Polar Music Prize awarded to Valery Gergiev

Moscow-born conductor Valery Gergiev has been awarded the Polar Music Prize worth one million Swedish Crowns (about 130,000 dollars). The award was founded by Stig Anderson, the publisher, lyricist and manager of Abba. The chairman of the award committee, Ake Holmquist said, "The 2006 Polar Music Prize is awarded to the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev for the way his unique, electrifying musical skills have deepened and renewed our relationship with the grand tradition; and for how he has managed to develop and amplify the importance of artistic music in these modern, changing times." Each year, the award recognizes two artists from various genres. Previous recipients from the classical music genre include Gyorgy Ligeti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mstislav Rostropovich and Pierre Boulez. The other recipient of the award was Led Zeppelin. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will award the prize May 22 at a cermony in Sweden. [From The Gramophone]