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…
On October 16, 2019, the world’s leading classical music magazine Gramophone awarded the Birgit Nilsson Foundationwith a Special Achievement Award; an award given to an organisation that has supported the legacy of a great artist with notable imagination and loyalty. Gramophone states in their communication around the Special Achievement Award: “In Birgit Nilsson’s centennial year, the Foundation has not only beautifully celebrated her extraordinary talent and artistry but is now also responsible for introducing Nilsson to a generation who were never able to experience her live.” – We are…
Rutbert Reisch travelled to Switzerland on 10 May to receive the International Classical Music Award (ICMA) for Best Historical Recording of the Year, which was awarded to Birgit Nilsson: The Great Live Recordings at a ceremony in Lucerne’s KKL Concert Hall. The 31 CD live box set, which was curated by the Birgit Nilsson Foundation to celebrate the 100th anniversary in 2018, was released as a limited edition on Sony and sold out within months. On presenting the award, the…
The Great Performances team at WNET will broadcasting the Birgit Nilsson documentary: A League of Her Own – premiering Friday, March 22 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) This illuminating documentary about Birgit Nilsson’s life in the arts features rare television and archival footage highlighting her remarkable talents, and features interviews with friends and fellow opera luminaries, including Plácido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Nina Stemme, Jonas Kaufmann and many others. Birgit Nilsson: A League of Her Own social media toolkit Embeddable trailer with more…
Superstar soprano, recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Prize, says an early competition she lost proved to be an unexpected gift. By Dennis PolkowBy this point in soprano Nina Stemme’s operatic journey, the high-intensity role of Richard Strauss’ “Elektra” has emerged as a signature piece. Indeed, the Swedish singer and reigning Wagnerian soprano, who currently performs the distraught and vengeful Elektra in her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, all but owns the part. She is the foremost Elektra in the world today,…
The Swedish dramatic soprano, Nina Stemme, was the fourth recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Prize, awarded in the year which also celebrated the 100th anniversary of Birgit NIlsson’s birth. Nina Stemme is in great demand worldwide. She is a frequent guest at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, Wiener Staatsoper, Opera Bastille in Paris and the Royal Opera Houses in London and Stockholm, to name just a few. As a dramatic soprano, Stemme has continued the…
Nina Stemme has been announced as the recipient of the 2018 Birgit Nilsson Prize Internationally famous Swedish-born soprano Nina Stemme is in great demand worldwide. She is a frequent guest at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, Wiener Staatsoper, Opera Bastille in Paris and the Royal Opera Houses in London and Stockholm, to name just a few. As a dramatic soprano, Nina Stemme has continued the great tradition of Kirsten Flagstad and Birgit Nilsson. She has…
Birgit Nilsson Foundation President Rutbert Reisch announced today in Stockholm that the Birgit Nilsson Prize for 2018 will be awarded to Nina Stemme. The Prize Award Ceremony will take place in the presence of Their Majesties King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia on October 11, 2018 at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, Sweden, at which time the Prize will be presented by His Majesty. At the ceremony, the Royal Opera Orchestra led by American conductor Evan Rogister will accompany renowned Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel…
The third recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Prize was the Vienna Philharmonic and, on the occasion of the Award Ceremony in October 2014, the entire orchestra flew to Sweden and performed on stage at the Stockholm Konserthus under the direction of Riccardo Muti, in the presence of H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf and H.M. Queen Silvia. “No singer stands alone on the opera stage and the highest performance standards can only be achieved with partners who bring the same passion…
The second recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Prize was conductor Riccardo Muti, recognized for exemplifying all of the qualities that were so important to Birgit Nilsson: passion, dedication and extraordinary work over many decades. “When I heard that the Birgit Nilsson Foundation had chosen me for this distinguished award, I was deeply touched by the jury’s accolade” said Riccardo Muti. “All the more so given my profound admiration for this unique and extraordinary artist, both as an incomparable musician and…
