| Léonie Sonning Music Prize | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | "internationally recognised composer, musician, conductor or singer" |
| Sponsored by | The Léonie Sonning Music Foundation |
| Location | Copenhagen |
| Country | Denmark |
| Reward | €133,000 |
| First award | 1959 |
| Website | www |
TheLéonie Sonning Music Prize, orSonning Award, which is recognized as Denmark's highest musical honor, is given annually to an international composer or musician.[1] It was first awarded in 1959 to composerIgor Stravinsky.[2] Laureates are now selected by the directors ofThe Léonie Sonning Music Foundation, which was founded in 1965.[3]
The diploma is in Danish, and the prize includesEUR 133,000 (US$ 146,400) and amonotype by the Danish painterMaja Lisa Engelhardt. Honorees are treated to a concert, typically held inCopenhagen, and are often invited to teach a master class of Danish musicians.
The award is not directly related to theSonning Prize, which is the Danish award presented by a foundation in memory of Sonning's late husband,Carl Johan Sonning [da].
Schreier marked the twenty-fifth presentation of the prize, but actually more than 25 years of its existence inasmuch as an extraordinary award was made to Igor Stravinsky in 1959, before the Sonning Trust had been formally established. This happened in 1965, ... Since 1965 the prize has been presented every year on a date as near as possible to May 30, which was the wedding anniversary of Léonie Sonning and her husband Carl JohanSonning. The statutes stipulate that the ...
On the evening of May 17th Leonard Bernstein was awarded the Leonie Sonning Music Prize in recognition of his efforts on behalf of Carl Nielsen. The ceremony took place during a concert I attended at the 18th-century Odd Fellow Palace in Copenhagen, in whose wonderful old concert hall Nielsen himself had conducted many a premiere of his works. It had been agreed that, in coming to Copenhagen to accept the prize, ...
... the Royal Danish Ballet and Music Festival at the end of May, and besides the Royal Theatre's production of his opera "Maskerade", which had not been performed for 15 years, the main event was a concert, including Carl Nielsen's 3rd Symphony, performed by the Royal Orchester, conducted for the first time by Leonard Bernstein and recorded during his stay in Copenhagen. The formal object of Mr. Bernstein's visit to Copenhagen was to receive the Leonie Sonning Musical Prize.
The Leonie Sonning Prize for 1966 was recently awarded the Swedish singer Birgit Nilsson. The amount of the Prize is 50,000 Danish kroner. The Leonie Sonning Prize was awarded for the first time in 1959, with Igor Stravinsky being the recipient. The 1965 winner was conductor Leonard Bernstein.
This year's Leonie Sonning Music Prize was given to Birgit Nilsson, who visited The Royal Theatre on May 17th, 1966, for a guest performance in "Fidelio". Birgit Nilsson honoured yong Danish singers by donating her salary for this performance to be used as a scholarship for two young female singers.
In 1967 he received the Gottfried von Herder Prize from the University of Vienna, and in August of that year he was given the Leonie Sonning Prize in Copenhagen 'in recognition and admiration of his mastery as a composer, which is a source of inspiration to the musical life of our age'. The award was presented at an all- Lutoslawski concert as part of the Royal Danish Festival of Music and Ballet celebrating the 800th anniversary of Copenhagen's founding.
The year 1967 again put Witold Lutoslawski in the news when he received the coveted Leonie Sonning Award "in recognition and admiration of his masterly compositional virtuosity which is a source of inspiration to the musical life of our times".
