Grigory Sokolov’s letter
A news item that — shockingly — has so far fallen through the cracks at Norman LeBrecht’s Slipped Disc: the pianist Grigory Sokolov has refused to accept the 2015 Cremona Music Award because one of the previous winners was Norman LeBrecht.
The Clasical Music blog reports that Sokolov posted this statement in Italian and Russian on his website:
Dear Mr. Bianchedi, ladies and gentlemen of Comitato Artistico di Cremona Mondomusica e Piano Experience.
‘I refuse to receive the prize, Cremona Music Award 2015. According to my ideas about elementary decency, it is shame to be in the same award-winners list with Lebrecht. G. Sokolov’
Filed under: music news
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 
It’s all too grotesque for this gentle octogenarian.
Great headline!
Hello, I just would like to clarify the official position of CremonaFiere, organizer of Mondomusica and the CremonaMusic Award, about it.
CremonaFiere launched the Cremona Music Award, which is given within Cremona Mondomusica and Piano Experience since 2014, in order to reward the international personalities that have arisen in their respective areas of interest in the world of music.
In 2014, we awarded:
Micheal Nyman (“Composition” category)
Alfred Brendel (“Interpretation” category)
Norman Lebrecht (“Communication” category)
FuturOrchestra (“Project” category)
These people came to Cremona to receive the prize, except from Norman Lebrecht, who was unable to come and sent a video message.
This year, our Artistic Committee considered to award:
Krzysztof Penderecki (Composition)
Grigory Sokolov (Interpretation)
Corinna Da Fonseca Wollheim, music critic of the New York Times (Communication)
Stefano Belisari aka Elio (Project)
Maestros Penderecki and Belisari, and Corinna Da Fonseca Wollheim have come to Cremona to receive the prize, while Maestro Sokolov sent us a letter to refuse the prize, justifying this choice with the presence of Norman Lebrecht among the people awarded in 2014.
We don’t want to discuss the personal relationship between Maestro Sokolov and Norman Lebrecht; we are just very sorry about Sokolov’s choice, especially considering that Franco Panozzo, Sokolov’s manager, sent us an email on August 4th, 2015, saying that Maestro Sokolov would have been very happy to come to Cremona to receive the prize, if he had been in Italy during Cremona Mondomusica. We also have to say that before that (June 29th, 2015) we informed Franco Panozzo about the people awarded in 2014, Norman Lebrecht included.
So we have been surprised that just a few days before the prize-giving ceremony Maestro Sokolov took this decision.
Paolo Bodini
Responsible for communication and special events of CremonaFiere