Yo-Yo Ma – moderated talk
On Tuesday October 18 Birgit Nilsson Stiftelsen held a moderated press talk with this year's Birgit Nilsson Prize Laureate Yo-Yo Ma. Link to audio file Photo: Felicia Margineanu
Press Releases
Birgit Nilsson Prize Ceremony streamed live on Konserthuset Play
World-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma will be awarded the Birgit Nilsson Prize on 18 October at the official ceremony streamed live on Konserthuset Play. The Prize - the world's largest in classical music - will be presented by King Carl XVI Gustav and the evening also features musical performances by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Choir and Royal Swedish Opera Choir, under the direction of conductor Patrik Ringborg. As supporting and inspiring the next generation of young artists is a priority…
Yo-Yo Ma meets young Swedish cellists
October 18 cellist Yo-Yo Ma will receive the 2022 Birgit Nilsson Prize. On the occasion of his visit to Sweden a group of young cellists from various cultural schools across Sweden have the opportunity to meet the world star. They will also attend the rehearsal and concert at Konserthuset Stockholm where Yo-Yo Ma performs Dvořák's Cello Concerto. "We look forward to welcoming these young talents to a personal meeting with one of the world's foremost artists in classical music", says…
Intensive Birgit Nilsson-days with international star line-up
An opera gala presenting over one hundred performers, including international star soloists and guest speaker, Mark Levengood, will be the highlight and finale of this year’s Birgit Nilsson Days. The 13 August concert takes place on a large outdoor stage at the Birgit Nilsson Museum, in the meadow adjacent to Birgit’s family home. Eight soloists will participate, including two young stars who perform for the first time in Scandinavia: soprano Joyce El-Khoury and tenor Jonathan Tetelman. “Joyce El-Khoury is miraculous,…
Yo-Yo Ma to receive the 2022 Birgit Nilsson Prize
Birgit Nilsson Foundation President, Susanne Rydén, announced today that the 2022 Birgit Nilsson Prize will be awarded to cellist, Yo-Yo Ma. At one million US dollars, the Prize is the largest in classical music, awarded to artists and institutions who have contributed an important chapter to music history. Yo-Yo Ma is the first instrumentalist to receive the Prize, which will be presented to him by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf at the Prize Ceremony on October 18 at the…
Cornelia Beskow-Birgit Nilsson Stipendium 2022
The 2022 Birgit Nilsson Stipendium is awarded to the Swedish lyric dramatic soprano, Cornelia Beskow, who receives 200.000 SEK (equivalent to $20.000) on August 12 when she will perform in Birgit Nilsson’s parish church at Västra Karup, as a part of the celebrations for this year’s “Birgit Nilsson Days”. Winner of the 2017 Lauritz Melchior International Singing Competition, where she was awarded all four prizes, Cornelia Beskow trained at the Copenhagen Opera Academy (Soloist Class, 2009-2012) and the Stockholm University…
Hillevi Martinpelto – Master Class 2022
Soprano Hillevi Martinpelto debuted at the Royal Opera in Stockholm as Cio Cio San in Madame Butterfly and has since performed on most of the world’s leading opera and concert hall stages, for example in Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Dresden, Leipzig, Salzburg, Vienna, Milan, Florence, Rome, Amsterdam, Brussels, Edinburgh, London (where she participated in 8 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall), Glyndebourne, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Tokyo and Hong Kong. She has worked with conductors such as Sir John Eliot…
Birgit Nilsson Stiftelsen to announce the 2022 Prize Recipient
In exactly one year from today, on 17 May 2022, the fifth recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Prize will be announced on Birgit’s birthday. The largest Prize in Classical Music, the 2022 recipient will receive 1 million dollars, which will be presented at a Gala Ceremony held in Stockholm in October of the same year. As Gramophone Magazine wrote following the Prize Ceremony in 2014: “We live in times when it’s increasingly hard for classical music to get itself discussed…
Johanna Wallroth – Birgit Nilsson Stipendium 2021
This year’s recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Stipendium is Soprano Johanna Wallroth. She receives SEK 200 000 which, thanks to an anonymous donor, has recently doubled in value, making it one of Sweden’s largest scholarships. Johanna Wallroth was thrust into the limelight in 2019 when she took First Prize in the prestigious Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition with her “immediately engaging, intelligent and detailed performance” (Bachtrack). She subsequently joined the Opernstudio of the Wiener Staatsoper from the start of the 20/21 season…
Miah Persson – Master Class 2021
Internationally active Swedish soprano Miah Persson, grew up in Hudiksvall and now lives in England. After her education at the Stockholm Academy of Opera, she made her debut as Susanna in Mozart's Figaro's wedding in 1998 and has since been a sought-after guest on the world's opera and concert hall stages. In 2011, Miah Persson was appointed court singer. About this year's assignment, Miah Persson says: “It is with great anticipation that I look forward to leading this year's master…