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Press Release # 2/2003 THE AWARDING OF THE POLAR MUSIC PRIZE 2003 The POLAR MUSIC PRIZE was presented on Monday 12th May 2003 for the twelfth consecutive year. The prizewinner was Keith Jarrett. He received prize money in the amount of one million Swedish Crowns (approx US$ 125.000 or € 111.000). The prize was given to the Laureate by His Majesty The King of Sweden during a nationally-televised ceremony at Berwaldhallen, Stockholm. Her Majesty The Queen, HRH Crown Princess Victoria, and HRH Princess Lilian were also present for the festivities. The late Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, Minister for Industry Leif Pagrotsky, Sweden's Ambassador to the U.S. Jan Eliasson, Tal Finney (Director of Policy & Senior Advisor to the Governor of California, Gray Davis), Jay Berman (Chairman & CEO, IFPI) and Stuart Watson (Managing Director, Zomba International Record Group) were amongst those who came to honour the Laureate. High-ranking diplomats joined the many dignitaries and celebrities from industry, music, show business and media attending the event. A specially edited version of the ceremony for internet can be viewed here. The Polar Music Prize is the world's most unique and prestigious prize and was founded by Stig "Stikkan" Anderson through the donation he gave to The Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Anderson created the prize to recognize and honour outstanding achievements in music, at the same time as bringing together the different worlds of music. Another vision he had is being realised more and more each year. He wanted to see a celebration of music as such by using music and musically-inspired functions lasting several days. During the weekend preceding the ceremony, Polar Music Prize Days took place for the first time this year. At the Stockholm Cultural Centre (Kulturhuset), the general public enjoyed seminars, concerts and an exhibition on the life and career of Keith Jarrett. The prizewinner himself took part in an open dialogue with those present at a seminar during Sunday afternoon, 11th May. Amongst those appearing during the ceremony on Monday 12th May, nationally televised on TV4, were Petra Nordlund (compère), Jan Malmsjö, Jill Johnson, Barbro "Lill-Babs" Svensson, Palle Danielsson, Anders Widmark, Sara Isaksson, Ulf Wakenius, Staffan Scheja, Robert Wells, Monica and Carl-Axel Dominique together with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mats Rondin. Keith Jarrett's first manager, 84 year-old George Avakian, read the prizewinner citation. During the banquet in the evening at the Winter Garden, Grand Hôtel in Stockholm, the guests were treated to performances on the piano from Anders Widmark together with Sara Isaksson and musicians. Traditional snaps songs were sung by the Stockholm Student Choir. The traditional PostPrizegiving Party took place at Berns. Here party-goers enjoyed live entertainment from Sweden's Eurovision Song Contest 2003 duo Fame, Lambretta and Patrik Kolar & His Funky Friends. Fame were also presented with their first gold disc. In collaboration with The Royal Institute of Technology, the evening's entertainment at the banquet can be viewed here. Publicity photos can also be downloaded here. Previous Prizewinners 1992 Sir Paul McCartney and the Baltic States (for copyright protection) 1993 Dizzy Gillespie and Witold Lutoslawski 1994 Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Quincy Jones 1995 Sir Elton John and Mstislav Rostropovitch 1996 Pierre Boulez and Joni Mitchell 1997 Eric Ericson and Bruce Springsteen 1998 Ray Charles and Ravi Shankar 1999 Stevie Wonder and Iannis Xenakis 2000 Bob Dylan and Isaac Stern 2001 Burt Bacharach, Robert Moog and Karlheinz Stockhausen 2002 Sofia Gubaidulina and Miriam Makeba |
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Polar Music Prize, PO Box 27327, SE-102 54 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN | Phone: +46 8 629 53 38 | E-mail: info@polarmusicprize.com | |
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Copyright © 1992-2008 Polar Music Prize. All rights reserved. The music on this web site has been made available with the due permission of STIM/NCB. Updated: 05/14/2008 | E-mail: webmaster@polarmusicprize.com | |