Pianist Kirill Gerstein was honoured at the 2025 OPUS KLASSIK Awards with the Sonderpreis Kuratorische Leistung (Special Prize for Curatorial Achievement) for his powerful Music in Time of War – Debussy/Komitas (Myrios). . The awards are the most prestigious prize for classical music in Germany. The winners are selected by an independent eleven-member jury of experts representing the music and media industries.
Inspired by the music of Komitas, a pioneer of ethnomusicology and revered as the founder of the Armenian national school of music, Kirill Gerstein’s recent initiative epitomizes his approach to music-making.
Scheduled for release in the weeks between the anniversary of Debussy’s death and Armenian Genocide Memorial Day, Music in Time of War is a double album which places the music of Komitas alongside that of Claude Debussy, a seminal composer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who held a deep admiration of Komitas’s music. Both composers were profoundly affected by the implosion of their worlds – Komitas by the Armenian Genocide, Debussy by the First World War – and their musics reflect a close emotional alignment. For many Komitas is terra incognita, yet for those already familiar with his work, his memory burns more brightly than ever. The project is presented as an illustrated book with a series of in-depth essays commissioned by Kirill.
Kirill said:
“‘Music in Time of War’ receiving the Opus Klassik award is a moving moment — not because of personal recognition, but because it affirms that art, created in history’s darkest hours, still finds resonance in the present.
“This album was never intended as a commemoration for its own sake. It is an active musical reflection on how art reacts to and survives the horrors of war, persecution, displacement. It is also, tragically, a reminder of the persistence of these themes today. The First World War and the Armenian Genocide are not merely distant, historical echoes. The aftershocks of those catastrophes powerfully shape our present.
“Music allows us to approach such realities intimately — not through slogans or polemics, but through emotional engagement. Art does not replace historical truth or political accountability.
“That is not its role. Yet like no other form of expression, art reminds us of the cost of forgetting.
“This recording is also a love letter to the physical album — the essays, the artwork, the sequencing, the music — all come together to form a narrative that cannot be clicked away or randomly shuffled.
“I am grateful to everyone who contributed their artistry and care to this project: Thomas Adès, Ruzan Mantashyan, Katia Skanavi; Annette Becker, Khatchig Mouradian, Artur Avanesov, Heinz Holliger; Richard Evidon, Eva Zöllner, Jean-Claude Poyet; Peter Mendelsund, Knut Schötteldreier; Stephan Cahen at myrios, Katie Ferguson at Platoon, and Jonathan Gruber at Apple Music; Wiener Konzerthaus and The Columbia University Armenian Center. Their dedication and support shaped this work into something that, I hope, will continue to provoke thought and feeling in those who encounter it.
“Thank you to the jury of Opus Klassik for this recognition — of this extraordinary music, and of the ever-resonant histories to which it testifies.”
Watch the Music in Time of War Debussy / Komitas trailer
Photos: Kirill Gerstein – Marco Borggreve; TrioColores – Akvilė Šileikaitė