Igor Levit has been closely associated with the Heidelberger Frühling for many years. He has been a regular performer at the Musikfestival since 2011, and was artist in residence in 2013. In the past, he has already played a part in shaping the festival's programmatic work as Artistic Director of the Kammermusikakademie and as curator of the chamber music focus "Standpunkte".

Igor Levit: "For me, the Heidelberger Frühling is a place of freedom and learning. For artists as well as for the audience. I owe a good part of my artistic self-image to the Heidelberger Frühling. From the very beginning, I was given the confidence and security that allowed me to grow as an artist. For me, opening up such opportunities to other musicians is part of the core of my new task as co-artistic director of Heidelberger Frühling."

Thorsten Schmidt: "For me personally, this is a very moving moment, because it heralds a new era. After now 25 years of festival history, the step into a joint artistic direction with Igor Levit is an almost natural development. We have been working together since 2011, developing artistic ideas, implementing projects, and getting to know each other's thinking as well as our convictions very well. Igor Levit stands for the founding objectives and vision of Heidelberger Frühling like hardly any other artist. His work, like ours, focuses first and foremost on people, on overcoming the boundary between stage and audience, and on the question of the role of art in our society. With the coming together of two generations in the artistic direction, the different perspectives, approaches and experiences, we would like to shape and form the coming years of the festival together."