"Building bridges" - under this motto, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded Leila Weber and Andreas Knapp the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on 30 September 2022 in Bellevue Palace on the Day of German Unity.

Official text from the Office of the Federal President on the award ceremony:

"Music has the power to create community. The violist and the music manager are  empathetic and passionate about enabling those who have experienced uprootedness and homelessness to experience this. Leila Weber and Andreas Knapp founded HANGARMUSIKin Berlin in 2016, an aid project for refugee children and young people in which they make music together in an orchestra. Participation requires no prior expertiseThey learn as a group and usually rehearse on the grounds of the former Tempelhof Airport. The focus is on orchestral music by Beethoven, Mahler and Mozart. In addition, both have been working for many years with the orchestras of El Sistema , the music education model initiated in Venezuela in 1975, where children from both disadvantaged and affluent backgrounds make music together, fostering unity."