European Culture Prize will be awarded in Zurich today
The European Culture Prize will be awarded for the first time on September 24th in Zurich’s Tonhalle, which was renovated a year ago. Tonhalle director Ilona Schmiel was convinced that the Tonhalle was “the perfect place for this award”. The Tonhalle Orchestra is both the host and the awardee. In addition, the cellist Sol Gabetta, the duo Yello and the actor Mario Adorf will receive one of the non-endowed Taurus prizes.
The European Culture Prize is awarded annually at a gala in a European city, most recently in Bonn, Vienna, Amsterdam and Dresden. The European Cultural Forum is the sponsor of the award. The bronze bull, the trophy for the European Culture Prize, is intended to honor outstanding achievements by artists. The fact that Switzerland is the venue for the gala for the first time sets “a special accent in the Alpine republic, which is not a member of the EU but makes a very significant contribution to European culture,” says Bernhard Reeder, Chairman of the Board of the European Cultural Forum and organizer. quote.
The Tonhalle Orchestra will be the host under its music director Paavo Järvi. In addition to the cellist Sol Gabetta, the dancers and musicians include the soprano and the Wagner and Strauss interpreter Camilla Nylund, the bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, who was appointed Kammersänger at the Vienna State Opera at the beginning of this year, and the violinist Nigel Kennedy, who like a pop star appears, but is at home in the serious subject. In addition, Dieter Meier and Boris Blank from Yello as well as the actor Mario Adorf are honored for their life’s work. The then 92-year-old was born in Zurich, but had an ambivalent relationship with Switzerland throughout his life. He now has the opportunity “to close the gap to his youth in Zurich,” the statement said.
The Ukrainian violinist Ilya Bondarenko receives a Taurus as Young Artist of the Year. At home between baroque and jazz, he became known to a large audience when he broadcast a special message from a Kiev boiler room shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The just 20-year-old played a Ukrainian folk song, which was joined by 90 musicians from 29 countries. This young talent prize is endowed with 10,000 euros and is therefore the only bull associated with money.
Previous winners include tenor Thomas Hampson, soprano Anja Harteros, painter Gerhard Richter and Prince Albert II of Monaco, actress Sophia Loren, fashion designer and environmental activist Vivienne Westwood, the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Scorpions.
(SERVICE – https://europaeischer-kulturpreis.de/)
