Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan would be the recipient of a 2025 Polar Music Prize. Rock legends Queen, and jazz virtuoso Herbie Hancock may also be receiving a Prize for 2025.
The Polar Music Prize, which has been given out for 3 many years, celebrates excellence within the discipline of music, with an emphasizing on recognizing a pioneering spirit and musical legacy. The ceremony will happen Might 27 in Stockholm on the Grand Hôtel with the Swedish Royal Household current.
Every Laureate receives a money award of 1 million Swedish Krona (roughly $141,805 CAD).
Barbara Hannigan feedback in a press release, “I’m deeply moved and humbled to obtain this yr’s Polar Music Prize. Thanks a lot for together with me amongst this unbelievable and galvanizing group of Laureates.”
Earlier Laureates embody luminaries of the music world, together with the Kronos Quartet, Ennio Morricone, Ravi Shankar, Renée Fleming, Miriam Makeba, Wayne Shorter, Sofia Gubaidulina, and lots of others.
They’re chosen by an impartial 11-member board who obtain nominations from the general public, in addition to from the Worldwide Music Council, the UNESCO-founded NGO which promotes geographical and musical range.
Marie Ledin, managing director of the Polar Music Prize, added, “It’s our immense privilege to honour and award these three Laureates on the 2025 Polar Music Prize. Queen, a band synonymous with the very material of popular culture, have made an influence on music that spans many years, generations and genres. They’re a most deserving recipient, beloved the world over.
“Herbie Hancock is a musical legend and tour de pressure. His music has pushed boundaries in jazz, funk soul and R&B, and we’re thrilled to honour his enduring legacy. Barbara Hannigan is a presence like no different; a passionate soprano and conductor of a novel and brave path. We’re trying ahead to celebrating all three recipients at this yr’s occasion.”
Barbara Hannigan
The Grammy Award-winning artist has carved a novel area of interest for herself on this planet of classical music.
She started her musical research in her hometown of hometown of Waverley, Nova Scotia. After transferring to Toronto as a youngster, she went on to review on the College of Toronto, the place she graduated with a Bachelor’s after which a Grasp of Music diploma. Her research would proceed in Banff, Ravinia, the Centre d’arts Orford and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.
She rapidly garnered discover for her passionate fashion, and her hanging performances of up to date music. On the age of 40, she turned her hand to conducting as nicely, typically filling each roles in efficiency. She has labored with the world’s main orchestras and ensembles.
“There’s a slight splitting of the mind,” mentioned Hannigan. “As a singer, you want to be just a little bit forward, primarily within the centre of the timing. With conducting, you want to be additional forward. It’s like I’ve two totally different click on tracks in my head on the similar time.”
In the present day she is the Principal Visitor Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, a place she’s held since 2019, and can start an preliminary three-year time period as Chief Conductor and Creative Director of the Iceland Symphony in 2026.
“I knew that I had a sure approach of main after I was singing. One conductor even mentioned to me, ‘You sing like a conductor.’ I might present within the physique how I used to be going to land notes and the way the road would wish to maneuver,” she says.
“It’s play. The phrase, it’s from our childhood… we ‘play’ music. There must be this primal, joyful urge.”
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.
