The eminent French composer Henri Dutilleux has been announced as the inaugural recipient of the New York Philharmonic’s Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music. Dutilleux received the award at a ceremony at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris on December 7. The award—a cash grant of $200,000 and a commission to write a work for the New York Philharmonic—will be given once every two years; in alternate years a $50,000 prize will be given to an emerging composer to write a work for the orchestra. To mark the inaugural year of the award, Dutilleux will share the proceeds of his award with three composers to be selected by the Philharmonic with his assistance, each of whom will write a work to be performed by the orchestra in lieu of a work by Dutilleux. The first of those three composers is Peter Eötvös, and the second two will be announced at a later date. Funding for the Kravis Prize comes from a $10 million gift to the Philharmonic in 2009 by Henry R. Kravis in honor of his wife, Marie-Josée. 

Posted December 12, 2011