Me Naiset 20070702 Esa-Pekka Salonen. Kuva: Katja Tähjä

Esa-Pekka Salonen Wins $100,000 2014 Nemmers Composition Prize

The biennial award honors “contemporary composers of outstanding achievement who have significantly influenced the field of composition.”

Written By

NewMusicBox Staff

Esa-Pekka Salonen Photo by Katja Tähjä

Esa-Pekka Salonen
Photo by Katja Tähjä

Esa-Pekka Salonen has been awarded the $100,000 Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition, the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University announced today. The biennial award honors “contemporary composers of outstanding achievement who have significantly influenced the field of composition.”

In addition to the cash award, Salonen will have one of his works performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during the 2015-16 season. He also will interact with Bienen School students and faculty during four residencies on the Northwestern campus over the next two academic years.

“It is with great pride and appreciation that I accept the Nemmers Prize this year,” Salonen said. “The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has long been a musical home away from home for me, and I look forward to developing a relationship with the Northwestern students and faculty. The possibilities at educational institutions are always intriguing, but the Bienen School’s special amalgam of creativity and merit makes this opportunity even more exciting.”

Previous winners of the Nemmers Prize include Aaron Jay Kernis (2012), John Luther Adams (2010), Kaija Saariaho (2008), Oliver Knussen (2006), and John Adams (2004).

The Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition is made possible through bequests from the late Erwin Esser Nemmers, a former member of the Northwestern University faculty, and his brother, the late Frederic E. Nemmers, who also enabled the creation of the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics and the Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize in Mathematics.
The full announcement and more information about the award and the awardee is available here.

(–from the press release)