The American Recital Debut Award Foundation Reveals 2025 Recipients, Cellists Gabriel Martins and Rainer Crosett

The American Recital Debut Award Foundation announces today that cellists Gabriel Martins and Rainer Crosett have been named the award's 2025 recipients, in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments and strong potential as emerging classical musicians. 

Established in the spring of 2023 by pianist and artistic administrator Victor Santiago Asunción in honor of the late cellist Lynn Harrell, the award supports exceptional emerging classical musicians who demonstrate strong potential for a performance career, providing them with a concert at Carnegie Hall in the 2025-2026 season, professional mentorship from an illustrious artistic advisory board — comprising GRAMMY Award-winning cellist Zuill Bailey, cellist, founder and artistic director of The Piatigorsky Foundation, Evan Drachman; award-winning soprano Margarita Gomez Giannelli, and Victor Santiago Asunción — and concert engagements over three consecutive seasons. 

The awardees are selected by Asunción in conjunction with a group of distinguished musicians led by Bailey. Those recognized must demonstrate the ability to sustain a career that can adapt to the ever-changing landscape of the performing arts and exhibit the capacity to cultivate an audience across both live and online platforms, as well as a level of accessibility that transcends traditional boundaries to reach broader audiences. A longtime chamber music partner of Harrell's, Asunción created the award as a way to give back and honor the opportunities and mentorship he received through their collaboration.

As one of the 2025 recipients of the American Recital Debut Award, Brazilian-American cellist Gabriel Martins brings with him a distinguished list of accolades, including the Concert Artists Guild/Young Classical Artists Trust Grand Prize, the Sphinx Competition Gold Medal, and the David Popper International Cello Competition Gold Medal. His accomplishments have led to high-profile debuts at Carnegie Hall, Kaufman Music Center, Wigmore Hall, and 92nd Street Y, as well as performances with major orchestras across North and South America.

“I am deeply grateful to be the recipient of the American Recital Debut Award. To present a recital program at Carnegie Hall is a dream come true for any young artist, and I am thrilled to have this opportunity,” says Martins. “Additionally, it is a particularly special honor to share this recital with pianist Victor Santiago Asunción, and to be a part of the continuous legacy of his longtime recital partner Lynn Harrell, one of my great cello heroes.”

Quickly gaining international recognition for his sensitivity and artistry, American Recital Debut Award-winning cellist Rainer Crosett made his Wigmore Hall debut as the first American to win the Pierre Fournier Award and gave his concerto debut in 2023 with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London. A dedicated advocate for contemporary music, Crosett has collaborated with leading composers such as Jörg Widmann, Chaya Czernowin, and Lei Liang. He has also recently commissioned new chamber works from composers including Eun Young Lee, William Cooper, and Reinaldo Moya.

"It is such an honor to receive the American Recital Debut Award. To perform at Carnegie Hall is every musician's dream, and the wonderful pianist Victor Santiago Asunción will be the ideal collaborator. He and his duo partner, the late legendary cellist Lynn Harrell, have profoundly influenced me, especially in recent years after I discovered recordings of their live performances,” says Crosett. “Such nuance in duo playing is rare to hear, and the spontaneity and flexibility they achieved is something I continue to aspire to! I am profoundly grateful for the support of the award in making this next career step possible."

In 2023, the inaugural American Recital Debut Award was presented to cellist John-Henry Crawford, recognizing both his already impressive accomplishments and his potential for continued excellence in classical performance. Crawford says, “I am so grateful to the American Recital Debut Award for a wonderful several years under its wing. Since receiving the award at my Carnegie debut, I've been fortunate to release a concerto debut album with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra featuring works by Dvořák and Tchaikovsky, and have gone on concert tours worldwide from the Spanish Canary Islands, to an Asia debut on a concert tour of the Philippines, to beautiful Alaska!”