SIR JOHN ELIOT GARDINER AWARDED LEONIE SONNING MUSIC PRIZE (13 Oct 2005)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner  today received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize in a ceremony in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Sir John Eliot, on receiving the award, commented:

“It is a very considerable honour to receive this prestigious prize and to form a link in a chain of such a distinguished line of winners.”

The prize is endowed by the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation, established by Léonie Sonning (née Rothenburg, 1894-1970), widow of the eminent Danish writer and editor Carl Johann Sonning. The prize consists of a diploma of honor and a monetary award.

The Foundation is managed by a Board of Directors consisting of five members of which three are music experts appointed by the Royal Academy of Music, Radio Denmark and the Royal Theatre and Orchestra.

This award comes just a fortnight after Sir John Eliot won three Gramophone Awards, including Record of the Year for his recording of Bach Cantatas (SDG101) that co-launched his own record label. In May, Gardiner became the first Englishman to be awarded the Bach Medal, which is awarded by the Bach Archiv and the City of Leipzig.

Following the presentation of the award, Sir John Eliot will conduct the Danish Radio Orchestra in a programme of Autumn and Winter from Haydn’s The Seasons and Nielsen’s Springtime in Funen.

Other notable musicians to be awarded the Léonie Sonning Music Prize previously have included Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sviatoslav Richter, Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett.