WINNERS OF THE POLAR MUSIC PRIZE FOR 2001
BURT BACHARACH, ROBERT MOOG AND KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN

The winners of the Polar Music Prize , the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award, for 2001were unveiled on the evening of Monday the 22nd of January in Stockholm and at a special showcase held at the Carlton Hotel during the MIDEM music fair in Cannes, France. The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson who played a key role in the enormous success of ABBA . The Prize has been awarded since 1992 for exceptional and lifetime achievements, transcending musical genres and breaking down musical boundaries. Les Bider , CEO Warner Chappell and international artist Meja hosted the event and announced the Prizewinners. Also live performances by Lisa Miskovsky , Kelly Levesque and Laura Pausini .

The event was a completely new venture this year to mark the 10th anniversary of the Polar Music Prize. Three Prizewinners were announced this year instead of the usual two.

The three Prizewinners are:

Burt Bacharach, Robert Moog and Karlheinz Stockhausen. They will receive their prizes in Stockholm on Monday 14th of May from His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. Crown Princess Victoria will also join her parents for the first time at the Prize Award Ceremony.

The Prize is in the amount of one million Swedish Crowns (approximately equivalent to US$ 115.000) to each Prizewinner.

The event was for the first time webcast directly to participating Swedish embassies and consulates (London, Berlin, New York and Los Angeles) holding simultaneous Polar Music Prize media parties of their own. To complete the strong international coverage, the announcement ceremony webcast is now being aired on our web site: www.polarmusicprize.com

Citations from the Polar Music Prize jury:

Burt Bacharach
The Polar Music Prize for 2001 is being awarded to the American composer, arranger, record producer and pianist, Burt Bacharach, one of the primary architects of contemporary music. Bacharach has been a principal player on the international music scene since his debut in the late 1950's, producing a host of timeless classics stemming from his infallible feeling for powerful, memorable and unmistakably personal melodies and for brilliantly designed harmony.

Robert Moog
Robert Moog is being awarded the Polar Music Prize for 2001 for his design of the MiniMoog, the first compact, easy-to-use synthesizer, which paved the way to the realm of electronic sounds that has revolutionised all genres of music during the past half-century.

Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen is being awarded the Polar Music Prize for 2001 for a career as a composer that has been characterized by impeccable integrity and neverceasing creativity, and for having stood at the forefront of musical development for fifty years.

Past Prizewinners have been :

1992 Sir Paul McCartney and the Baltic States in recognition of their work for copyright protection.
1993 Dizzy Gillespie and Witold Lutoslawski
1994 Quincy Jones and Nikolaus Harnoncourt
1995 Sir Elton John and Mstislav Rostropovitch
1996 Joni Mitchell and Pierre Boulez
1997 Bruce Springsteen and Eric Ericson
1998 Ray Charles and Ravi Shankar
1999 Stevie Wonder and Iannis Xenakis
2000 Bob Dylan and Isaac Stern

For further information about the Polar Music Prize and more comprehensive
citations on the Prizewinners please e-mail info@polarmusicprize.com.