Conductor Riccardo Muti, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, will receive one of Japan’s Praemium Imperiale prizes, awarded annually since 1988 by the Japan Art Association in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and theater/film. The Praemium Imperiale comes with a cash prize equivalent to $136,000. Also receiving prizes this year will be French actress Catherine Deneuve, French-Belgian painter Pierre Alechinsky, Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, and French architect Christian de Portzamparc. The recipients will be formally recognized at an awards ceremony in Tokyo on October 23. Previous music recipients include pianist Mitsuko Uchida, violinist Gidon Kremer, and conductors Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Leonard Bernstein, and Mstislav Rostropovich.
Posted July 26, 2018