Birgit Nilsson Prize 2025
The recipient of the Birgit Nilsson Prize 2025 will announced on May 21. Follow the live broadcast of the announcement from Stockholm at 11.00 CEST here.
Founded in tandem with the Stipendium which Birgit Nilsson created to support young singers, the Birgit Nilsson Prize pays tribute to an active artist or institution which has contributed an important chapter to music history. Her legacy lives on just as she intended – giving incentive to young musicians at the start of their careers and reminding us of the importance of a lifetime dedicated to classical music.
Awarded approximately every three years, the Prize was first presented in 2009 to Plácido Domingo, followed by Riccardo Muti(2011), the Vienna Philharmonic (2014) Nina Stemme (2018) and Yo-Yo Ma (2022).
Birgit Nilsson Prize. A testament to excellence.
The Birgit Nilsson Prize is the largest prize in classical music, awarded approximately every three years to an active artist or institution who has contributed an important chapter to music history.
The Prize serves not only as a recognition of the recipients’ outstanding achievements, but as a testament to the importance of passion and dedication in musical life and an incentive for younger musicians as they embark on their careers.
Previous recipients of the Birgit Nilsson Prize
Recipient 2018
Nina Stemme
“It is a great honour to be recognized for my work, but it is even greater to be recognized in my home country by a world-renowned organization that bears the name and carries the legacy of a legend…my idol Birgit Nilsson.”
A drum roll, and the audience at the Stockholm Concert Hall rises as one: here comes the King and Queen of Sweden … everything evokes the Nobel Prize, except that it is another name that appears on stage: the Birgit Nilsson Prize.
Le Figaro, 9 October 2014
Recipient 2014
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
“We at the Vienna Philharmonic revered and loved Birgit Nilsson. To be honoured by a Prize which bears her name makes us grateful and at the same time wistful”
Nilsson was one of opera’s iconic figures, a consummate artist who demanded the best from herself and those she worked with. She made sure those demands would be met by the winners of her Prize.
Musical America, 13 October 2014
Recipient 2011
Riccardo Muti
“I am truly honoured to receive this distinguished award, especially as it was established by one of the greatest artists in history, Birgit Nilsson, and in a country which has given so much to the world of music, and especially opera”
Birgit Nilsson was determined to preserve her memory by setting up classical music’s largest prize in her country’s capital. She succeeded.
BBC Music Magazine, August 2012
Recipient 2009
Plácido Domingo
“This commendation from Birgit is one of the highest and most emotional moments in my professional life.”
Acknowledging excellence, as Nilsson wanted, is of course a good thing ... and in an increasingly dumbed-down age, drawing wider attention to that excellence is ever more vital.
Gramophone Magazine, October 2014
Foundation
The Foundation behind the prize
Birgit Nilsson established the Birgit Nilsson Foundation for the Prize in 1989. While Birgit Nilsson chose the first Prize recipient, an international Advisory Panel has since 2011 proposed each successive recipient.