Kronos Quartet receives prestigious awards

Arts Projects Australia have had the pleasure of touring the Kronos Quartet for a number of years and were delighted to here that, on Tuesday, May 3, 2011, it was announced that they have been named the recipient of two internationally renowned awards: in the United States, the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, awarded for outstanding achievement and excellence in music, and in Sweden, the Polar Music Prize, an international music prize which is awarded to individuals, groups or institutions in recognition of exceptional achievements. No other musician or ensemble has ever won both prizes, let alone in a single year.

Kronos Quartet will be honored as the 2011 Avery Fisher Prize recipient on Wednesday 8th June at an invitational ceremony to be held at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. As the recipient of this coveted honor, Kronos receives a monetary award of $75,000. On a marble plaque in Avery Fisher Hall, Kronos Quartet’s name will join the twenty previous Prize recipients, among them Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Richard Goode, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Midori, Murray Perahia, André Watts, and other iconic figures.

The Polar Music Prize laureates were announced recently in Sweden at the Stockholm City Hall. The 2011 Polar Prize ceremony will take place on Tuesday 30th August at the Stockholm Concert Hall, where King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden will hand out the awards, which carry a monetary value equivalent to approximately $155,000 ($1m Swedish Kronor).