Star classical pianist Lang among Opus Klassik award winners

World-famous pianist Lang Lang will be honoured this year with an Opus Klassik award, the Association for the Promotion of Classical Music announced on Monday, reported dpa.

Lang, 42, will be honoured for the album "Saint-Saëns," released in March. Other top winners include violinist Isabelle Faust and cellist Gautier Capuçon in the Instrumentalist of the Year categories.

The Opus Klassik will be awarded on October 13 at the main awards ceremony in the Konzerthaus Berlin.

Awards will be presented in a total of 27 categories.

A jury selected the Austrian soprano Anna Prohaska and Konstantin Krimmel will be honoured as the singers of the year. Finland's Klaus Mäkelä won the Conductor of the Year category.

The Association for the Promotion of Classical Music has been awarding the Opus Klassik since 2018, when music companies, record labels and concert organizers created it as the successor to the Echo Klassik.

Lang became perhaps publicly best-known for his performance at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

In the years that followed, the Chinese pianist played at the Nobel Prize ceremony for former US president Barack Obama, for Queen Elizabeth II's 60th anniversary and for Pope Francis in the Vatican.