Among the violinists to receive the RPS Gold Medal are Joachim, Kreisler, Ysaÿe and Menuhin. On presenting the medal to Anne-Sophie, John Gilhooly said:

‘I am sure everyone here will join me in thanking you for the radiant music you have given us, not just tonight, but over a luminous career. In all your performances and recordings, we have basked in the golden light you have cast across the violin repertory. Your interpretation of so many masterpieces is definitive. It is fitting in fact that we’ve just heard you play Beethoven so exquisitely, given his image is engraved on the Gold Medal, in recognition of the happy association that the Philharmonic Society had with him, notably as it commissioned his Ninth Symphony.

Your own dedication to the composers of our time has been remarkable. Among the many new works you’ve performed are sensational pieces by four other RPS Gold Medal recipients: Sofia Gubaidulina, John Williams, Henri Dutilleux and Witold Lutoslawski. You are an inspiration to so many aspiring violinists. Your care and devotion to individually helping them overcome hurdles with the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation is especially treasured. Let us also commend how you use your music-making to draw minds to humanitarian matters, not least through your concerts this last year in support of the people of Ukraine.’

On receiving the medal, Anne-Sophie said:

‘This is such an honour. Wonderfully enough, many of the great composers of the last twenty or thirty years with whom I’ve worked have also become Gold Medal recipients like Sofia Gubaidulina and Witold Lutoslawski, and their works recorded by British orchestras with me. Some of my favourite colleagues are the wonderful members of the London Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra, and I’m eternally grateful that my very strong bond with the great musicians of your beautiful country has enriched my life. I hope to prove worthy in the future to have received this award. I’m in the company of all my great heroes in whose footsteps I try to follow. Thank you very much to the Royal Philharmonic Society to bestow this tremendous honour on me.’

The presentation was part of a chamber concert in which Anne-Sophie performed Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Piano Trio, Clara Schumann’s Three Romances, Brahms’ Violin Sonata No.3, and the UK premiere of Sebastian Currier’s Ghost Trio, with cellist Maximilian Hornung and pianist Lambert Orkis.

Anne-Sophie Mutter is a musical phenomenon: for over 40 years, she has been a fixture in all the world’s major concert halls, making her mark on the classical music scene as a soloist, mentor and visionary. A four-time Grammy Award winner, she is equally committed to the performance of traditional composers as to the future of music. So has given world premieres of over 30 major works by such composers as Thomas Adès, Unsuk Chin, Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutoslawski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann and John Williams. She dedicates herself to supporting tomorrow’s musical talents and numerous benefit projects. The German cancer charity ‘Deutsche Krebshilfe’ elected her as their new president in 2021. Last year, she joined the foundation board of the Lucerne Festival. In 1997, she founded the Association of Friends of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, to which the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation was added in 2008. These two charitable institutions provide support for scholarship recipients, tailored to the fellows’ individual needs. Since 2011, Anne-Sophie has regularly shared the spotlight on stage with her ensemble of fellows Mutter’s Virtuosi.