Nordic Council Music Prize awarded to Susanna Mälkki

Conductor Susanna Mälkki was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize for 2017 in recognition of her distinguished international career and her fresh perspectives on the whole field of classical music. The Adjudication Committee wrote: “As Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a regular guest conductor at the highest level all over the world and a champion of contemporary Nordic music, Mälkki endows conducting with fresh energy and new perspectives, concentrating on the one thing that really matters – the music. All in all, Susanna is an inspiring and innovative role model and extremely important to the future of classical and contemporary music.”

The Nordic Council Music Prize followed in the wake of the international distinctions bestowed on Susanna Mälkki the previous year. The prestigious classical music publication Musical America named her Conductor of the Year in 2016, and earlier in the year she was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in France.