The prizes will be awarded in Stockholm on May 23 and will be attended by the Swedish Royal Family.
“The Polar Prize is a very prestigious and important accolade for a composer. I am very touched and want to thank you from the bottom of my heart,” said Arvo Pärt upon hearing of the prize.
Composer Arvo Pärt has likened his music to white light. It is in the encounter with the prism of the listener’s soul that all colors become visible. Anyone who has heard his laconic, reduced compositions will understand this perfectly. Influenced by sacred music, especially Gregorian chant, Arvo Pärt has created the compositional style tintinnabuli, from the Latin word for 'bell', in which the music moves according to a given structure. In 2006 and 2007, Arvo Pärt dedicated the performances of his works to the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and other dissidents in Russia. Arvo Pärt's courageously beautiful music creates depth in every sense.
The Polar Music Prize is awarded to representatives of both classical and popular music, to individuals, groups and institutions whose achievements in the field of music are outstanding and who have received worldwide recognition. The prize was founded in 1989 by the late Stig Anderson, manager of the Swedish pop group ABBA, and was first awarded in 1992 to Paul McCartney and the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Classical music laureates include Witold Lutosławski, Pierre Boulez, Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sofia Gubaidulina, György Ligeti, Steve Reich, Kaija Saariaho and the Kronos Quartet.