World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma has won the prestigious 2022 Birgit Nilsson Prize for his outstanding and ongoing contributions to music. The $US1 million prize, classical music’s richest, was presented by Sweden’s His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf at a glittering ceremony in Stockholm on 18 October. Ma is the first instrumentalist to be honoured with the triennial prize, which is funded from the estate of legendary Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson, who died in 2005.
“In Yo-Yo Ma we have someone who has for so many years stayed at the highest level of performance,” said Susanne Rydén of the Royal Swedish Academy of the Arts, which administers the prize.
Yo-Yo Ma receives the 2022 Birgit Nilsson Prize from Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf at the Concert Hall in Stockholm. Photo: TT News Agency/Alamy Stock Photo.
Ma has initiated innovative musical projects such as the Silkroad Ensemble, which aims to bring the East and West closer. He also works with diverse communities and institutions around the world. As well as being a UN Messenger of Peace, he is the first artist to be appointed to the World Economic Forum’s board of...
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