The international Ernst von Siemens Music Prize is an annual music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 prize

Prize

A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people to recognise and reward actions or achievements. Official prizes often involve monetary rewards as well as the fame that comes with them...

 given by the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste

Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste

Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste in München is an association of renowned personalities in Munich, Bavaria. It was founded by the Free State of Bavaria in 1948, continuinf a tradition established in 1808 by the Royal Academy of Arts in Munich.The academy organizes panel discussions,...

 (Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts) on behalf of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung (Ernst von Siemens Foundation for Music), established in 1972. The foundation was established by Ernst von Siemens

Ernst von Siemens

Ernst Albrecht von Siemens , the son of Carl Friedrich von Siemens, was a German industrialist and one of the successors of his family's company.-Life:...

 (1903–1990). The prize honors a composer, performer, or musicologist who has made a distinguished contribution to the world of music. In addition to the main prize, other prizes are also given. The total prize money given is currently 2.3 million euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s, with the winner of the main prize receiving €200,000 (before 2007, €150,000). The prize is sometimes known as "the Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

 of music".

Smaller awards are called "Förderpreis" (encouragement award). "Komponisten-Förderpreise" ("Composers' Prizes") are given to young composers for one of their works. "Förderprojekte" ("Grant-in-Aid Projects") support music festivals, concerts, musical institutions, and young musicians.

List of winners of the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize

1974 – Benjamin Britten Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to... 1975 – Olivier Messiaen Olivier Messiaen Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations... 1976 – Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of... 1977 – Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years... 1978 – Rudolf Serkin Rudolf Serkin Rudolf Serkin , was a Bohemian-born pianist.-Life and early career:Serkin was born in Eger, Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire to a Russian-Jewish family.... 1979 – Pierre Boulez Pierre Boulez Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics... 1980 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"... 1981 – Elliott Carter Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music... 1982 – Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,... 1983 – Witold Lutosławski 1984 – Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985... 1985 – Andrés Segovia Andrés Segovia Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain... 1986 – Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"... 1987 – Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim... 1988 – Peter Schreier Peter Schreier Peter Schreier is a German tenor and conductor.-Early life:Schreier was born in Meissen, Saxony, and spent his first years in the small village of Gauernitz, near Meissen, where his father was a teacher, cantor and organist... 1989 – Luciano Berio Luciano Berio Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian... 1990 – Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"... 1991 – Heinz Holliger Heinz Holliger Heinz Holliger Heinz Holliger Heinz Holliger (born 21 May 1939 is a Swiss oboist, composer and conductor.-Biography:He was born in Langenthal, Switzerland, and began his musical education at the conservatories of Bern and Basel. He studied composition with Sándor Veress and Pierre Boulez... 1992 – H. C. Robbins Landon H. C. Robbins Landon Howard Chandler Robbins Landon was an American musicologist.He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and studied music at Swarthmore College and Boston University. He subsequently moved to Europe where he worked as a music critic. From 1947 he undertook research in Vienna on Joseph Haydn, a composer...

1993 – György Ligeti György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:... 1994 – Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,... 1995 – Sir Harrison Birtwistle Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have... 1996 – Maurizio Pollini Maurizio Pollini Maurizio Pollini is an Italian classical pianist.- Biography and career :Pollini was born in Milan to the Italian rationalist architect Gino Pollini. Maurizio studied piano first with Carlo Lonati, until the age of 13, then with Carlo Vidusso, until he was 18... 1997 – Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Lachenmann is a German composer associated with musique concrète instrumentale.-Life and works:... 1998 – György Kurtág György Kurtág György Kurtág is a Hungarian composer of contemporary music.- Biography :György Kurtág was born in Lugoj in the Banat region, Romania.In 1946, he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he met his wife, Márta, and also György Ligeti, who became a close friend... 1999 – Arditti Quartet Arditti Quartet The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974. The quartet is associated particularly with contemporary music.-Early history:The quartet was founded in 1974 by violinist Irvine Arditti together with John Senter, Levine Andrade and Lenox Mackenzie... 2000 – Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:... 2001 – Reinhold Brinkmann Reinhold Brinkmann Reinhold Brinkmann was a German musicologist.Brinkmann was born in Wildeshausen and studied at Freiburg im Breisgau. His dissertation was about Arnold Schönberg's Klavierstücke op. 11. He started working on the faculty of Freie Universität Berlin in 1970... 2002 – Nikolaus Harnoncourt Nikolaus Harnoncourt Nikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement... 2003 – Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival... 2004 – Alfred Brendel Alfred Brendel Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.-Biography:... 2005 – Henri Dutilleux Henri Dutilleux Henri Dutilleux is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century, producing work in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in a style distinctly his own... 2006 – Daniel Barenboim Daniel Barenboim Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings.... 2007 – Brian Ferneyhough Brian Ferneyhough Brian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works... 2008 – Anne-Sophie Mutter Anne-Sophie Mutter Anne-Sophie Mutter is a German violinist.- Early life :Mutter was born in Rheinfelden, Germany. She began playing the piano at age five, and shortly afterwards took up the violin, studying with Erna Honigberger, a pupil of Carl Flesch... 2009 – Klaus Huber Klaus Huber Klaus Huber is a Swiss composer.Huber was born in Bern, Switzerland. One of the leading figures of his generation in Europe, he has written extensively for chamber ensembles, choirs, soloists and the orchestra as well as the theater... 2010 – Michael Gielen Michael Gielen -Professional career:Gielen was born in Dresden, Germany, to opera director Josef Gielen. Through his mother, Rose, he is the nephew of Eduard Steuermann and Salka Steuermann Viertel. He began his career as a pianist in Buenos Aires, where he studied with Erwin Leuchter and gave an early... 2011 – Aribert Reimann Aribert Reimann Aribert Reimann is a German opera composer, pianist and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of King Lear was written at the suggestion of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau who sang the title role....

List of winners of a Composers' Prize

• 1990 – Michael Jarrell
  Michael Jarrell
  Michael Jarrell is a Swiss composer. Born in Geneva, he studied at the Conservatoire there, and later with Klaus Huber in Freiburg.His works span many genres...
  
   and George Lopez
• 1991 – Herbert Willi
• 1992 – Beat Furrer
  Beat Furrer
  Beat Furrer is an Austrian composer and conductor of Swiss birth.Born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Furrer relocated to Vienna in 1975 to pursue studies with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati and Otmar Suitner . In 1985 he co-founded what is now one of Europe's leading contemporary music ensembles,...
  
   and Benedict Mason
  Benedict Mason
  Benedict Mason, born on 23 February 1954, is a British composer.Mason was educated at King's College Cambridge and took a degree in film-making at the Royal College of Art . He did not turn to composition until his early 30s, but his first acknowledged work, Hinterstoisser Traverse , attracted...
  
  
• 1993 – Sylvia Fomina and Param Vir
  Param Vir
  Param Vir is a British composer originally from India.Born in Delhi, Param Vir read philosophy at Delhi University and studied composition in England with Peter Maxwell Davies and Oliver Knussen....
  
  
• 1994 – Hans-Jürgen von Bose
  Hans-Jürgen von Bose
  Hans-Jürgen von Bose is a German Composer.-Life:After an unsettled adolescence, Bose entered the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt in 1969, where he received instruction in piano and music theory...
  
  , Marc-André Dalbavie
  Marc-André Dalbavie
  Marc-André Dalbavie is a French composer. He had his first music lessons at age 6 and later studied at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1985 he joined the research department of IRCAM where he studied digital synthesis, computer assisted composition and spectral analysis. In the early 1990s he...
  
   and Luca Francesconi
• 1995 – Gerd Kühr
  Gerd Kühr
  Gerd Kühr, also Gerd Kuhr, is an Austrian conductor, composer of classical music and academic teacher....
  
   and Philippe Hurel
• 1996 – Volker Nickel and Rebecca Saunders
  Rebecca Saunders
  -Biography:Saunders studied violin and composition at the University of Edinburgh. This was followed by a scholarship from the DAAD from 1991 to 1994 to study composition at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Wolfgang Rihm, and in 1997 a doctorate in composition with Nigel Osborne.She has...
  
  
• 1997 – Moritz Eggert
  Moritz Eggert
  Moritz Eggert is a German composer and pianist.- Life :Moritz Eggert began his studies in piano and composition in 1975 at Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt , at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München...
  
   and Mauricio Sotelo
  Mauricio Sotelo
  Mauricio Sotelo , is a Spanish composer.He started his musical studies at the conservatory of Madrid, before moving to Vienna to study composition with Francis Burt at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst, Wien...
  
  
• 1998 – Antoine Bonnet and Dr. Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf
  Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf
  -Life:Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf was born in Mannheim, Germany, and studied composition with Brian Ferneyhough, Klaus Huber und Emanuel Nunes and music theory at the music academy in Freiburg, where he graduated in 1992. At the same time, he studied musicology, philosophy with Jürgen Habermas and...
  
  
• 1999 – Thomas Adès
  Thomas Adès
  Thomas Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor.-Biography:Adès studied piano with Paul Berkowitz and later composition with Robert Saxton at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London...
  
   and Olga Neuwirth
  Olga Neuwirth
  Olga Neuwirth is an Austrian composer.As a child at the age of seven, Neuwirth began lessons on trumpet. She later studied composition in Vienna at the Vienna Academy of Music and Performing Arts under Erich Urbanner, while studying at the Electroacoustic Institute...
  
  
• 2000 – Hanspeter Kyburz
  Hanspeter Kyburz
  Hanspeter Kyburz is a contemporary Swiss composer of classical music, known for applying electronic music techniques to his productions....
  
  , Augusta Read Thomas
  Augusta Read Thomas
  Augusta Read Thomas is an American composer.Augusta Read Thomas was born in Glen Cove, New York. She attended The Green Vale School and later moved on to St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and then studied composition with Jacob Druckman at Yale University and at the Royal Academy of...
  
   and Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini
• 2001 – Isabel Mundry
  Isabel Mundry
  -Biography:Isabel Mundry was born in Schlüchtern in 1963 and studied composition at the Hochschule der Künste and electronic music, musicology and history at the Berlin Technische Universität. From 1991 to 1994 she taught at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin and furthered her studies in Frankfurt...
  
  , André Werner
  André Werner
  André Werner is a German composer of classical music.André Werner studied classical guitar and oboe at the Musikhochschule Bremen from 1980 to 1986, composition from 1986 to 1992 at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin with Frank Michael Beyer...
  
   and José María Sánchez-Verdú
  José María Sánchez-Verdú
  José María Sánchez-Verdú is a Spanish composer.He studied composition, conducting, and musicology at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música in Madrid, graduating in 1991, and was a lecturer there from 1991 to 1995. He later undertook postgraduate study in direction and composition...
  
  
• 2002 – Marc André, Jan Müller-Wieland
  Jan Müller-Wieland
  Jan Müller-Wieland is a German composer and conductor of classical music and an academic teacher. He is known for his operas.-Professional career:...
  
   and Charlotte Seither
• 2003 – Chaya Czernowin
  Chaya Czernowin
  Chaya Czernowin is an Israeli composer, and Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at Harvard University....
  
  , Christian Jost
  Christian Jost
  Christian Jost is a German composer, conductor and pianist. He completed his studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1989. Jost has served as composer-in-residence for several German orchestras; in 2003, he was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Composers Prize.-External links:** at...
  
   and Jörg Widmann
  Jörg Widmann
  Jörg Widmann is a German composer and clarinetist. He lives and works in Munich and Freiburg.- Education and career :...
  
  
• 2004 – Fabien Lévy
  Fabien Lévy
  -Biography:Lévy was born in Paris, France. After having been a jazz pianist, he studied composition with Gérard Grisey, orchestration with Marc-André Dalbavie and ethnomusicology with Gilles Leothaud at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1996 to 2000. In 2001, he went to Berlin on the DAAD Artist...
  
  , Johannes Maria Staud
  Johannes Maria Staud
  - Biography :Staud studied with, amongst others, Brian Ferneyhough and Michael Jarrell. He gained a publishing contract with Universal Edition in 2000, and since then has won numerous prizes, including a special music prize of the Austrian Republic , the composition award of the Salzburg Easter...
  
   and Enno Poppe
  Enno Poppe
  Enno Poppe is a German composer and conductor of classical music and an academic teacher.-Professional career:...
  
  
• 2005 – Sebastian Claren, Philipp Maintz
  Philipp Maintz
  -Professional career:Maintz studied composition with Michael Reudenbach and Robert HP Platz, and electronic music with Karlheinz Essl. He studied further at the CRFMW of the University of Liège and the IRCAM . He received the Ernst von Siemens Composer' Prize in 2005...
  
   and Michel van der Aa
  Michel van der Aa
  Michel van der Aa is a Dutch composer of contemporary classical music.- Early years :Michel van der Aa trained as a recording engineer at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...
  
  
• 2006 – Jens Joneleit
  Jens Joneleit
  Jens Gerd Joneleit is a German composer, known for his operas.-Early life and education:Jens Gerd Joneleit was born on 17 September 1968 in Offenbach am Main in Germany. His parents both played piano, and he learned music theory when he was only seven years old...
  
  , Alexander Muno and Athanasia Tzanou
• 2007 – Vykintas Baltakas and Markus Hechtle
• 2008 – Dieter Ammann, Márton Illés
  Márton Illés
  Márton Illés , is a Hungarian composer and pianist.Illés received musical training in piano, composition and percussion in Győr from 1981 to 1994. In 1993 he spent one academical term at the conservatory of Zurich wit pianist Hadassa Schwimmer. He studied the piano with László Gyimesi at the...
  
   and Wolfram Schurig
• 2009 – Francesco Filidei
  Francesco Filidei
  Francesco Filidei is an Italian organist and composer, student of Salvatore Sciarrino and Jean Guillou.He imagines music which has lost the sound element.-Notes:...
  
  , Miroslav Srnka and Lin Yang
• 2010 – Pierluigi Billone, Arnulf Herrmann
  Arnulf Herrmann
  Arnulf Herrmann is a German composer.After studying piano with Gernot Sieber at the Richard Strauss Conservatorium Munich he enrolled at the Musikhochschule Dresden, where he studied composition with Wilfried Krätzschmar and piano with Arkadi Zenzipér...
  
  , Oliver Schneller
  Oliver Schneller
  Oliver Martin Schneller is a German composer and saxophonist.-Life:Schneller grew up in Ireland, Sudan, Belgium and the Philippines...
  
  
• 2011 – Steven Daverson, Hèctor Parra
  Hèctor Parra
  Hèctor Parra i Esteve is a Catalan composer.Born in Barcelona in 1976, Parra studied in the Conservatoire of Barcelona, where he was awarded Prizes with Distinction in Composition, Piano and Harmony...
  
  , Hans Thomalla

External links

• Ernst von Siemens Foundation