“The Danish composer Per Nørgård on Wednesday became the second recipient of the New York Philharmonic’s Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music, an award that consists of a $200,000 cash prize and a commission to compose a work for the orchestra,” writes Jennifer Maloney in Wednesday’s (6/11) Wall Street Journal. “The inaugural award, in the 2011-12 season, went to Henri Dutilleux…. The orchestra [will] give the U.S. premiere of Mr. Nørgård’s Symphony No. 3 as part of its second NY Phil Biennial in 2016. It also plans to feature one of his works in March 2015 in a program of works by Nordic composers at the Metropolitan Museum, as part of its Contact new-music series. Alan Gilbert, the orchestra’s music director, called Mr. Nørgård ‘one of the grand figures in Scandinavian music.’ The composer’s work ranges from symphonies, operas and ballets to film scores, including the score to the 1987 film ‘Babette’s Feast.’ In the 1960s, Mr. Nørgård developed the Infinity Series, in which he used a series of numbers to create an ever-changing series of intervals. His later works border on surrealism. ‘Nørgård’s oeuvre embodies the curiosity, drive, and inspiration that we wanted to support through this prize,’ Mr. Gilbert said.”
Posted June 12, 2014
