The Arrau Medal was established by the Robert Schumann Society to memorialize its first honorary member,

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and B ...

, who died in 1991. The medal is awarded to a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

who is especially committed to the spirit and tradition of Claudio Arrau's keyboard artistry. The first recipient to be so honoured on 9 June 1994 was András Schiff. In 1997 the medal was awarded to

Martha Argerich Martha Argerich (; Eastern Catalan: �ɾʒəˈɾik born 5 June 1941) is an Argentine classical concert pianist. She is widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of all time. Early life and education Argerich was born in Buenos A ...

during the 6th International Schumann Festival, and in 2000 during the 7th International Schumann Festival to Murray Perahia.

References

German music awards Robert Schumann {{Classical-music-stub