Iggy Popone of the founding fathers of punk music, and Ensemble Intercontemporain, a Paris-based classical music assemblage, have been named winners of the Polar Music Prize 2022. The royal ceremony and banquet will take place in Stockholm on May 24 after a two-year COVID gap.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first Polar Music Prize ceremony, which honored Paul McCartney and the Baltic States, in 1992. The award was founded and funded by Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, the famed Swedish songwriter, producer, label owner and music publisher who was ABBA’s manager.. After the Nobel Prize Committee rejected Anderson’s suggestion of a Nobel Prize in Music, he alone created the Polar Music Prize.

“I was aware of the very fine line-up of people who got the Polar Music Prize,” Iggy Pop said in a video statement released by the Polar Music Prize committee. “(2011 Laureate) Patti Smith and (2007 Laureate) Steve Reich have been huge to me forever, I love what he does, and so many others, so this is a great step for me. I respect it and I’m honored by it. I can’t wait to come to Stockholm in May to receive the Polar Music Prize.

“Receiving the Polar Music Prize was definitely unexpected,” Matthias Pintscher, musical director of Ensemble Intercontemporain, told Billboard. “Being honored with this recognition is very meaningful. This prize is a profoundly human encouragement to learn to listen to oneself. We are the ambassadors of a sound phenomenon that can touch people. Coming out of the crisis (COVID), listening is more important than ever. I’m super proud for our musicians. Pintscher will attend the ceremony and receive the Prize together with Olivier Leymarie, general manager of the Ensemble Intercontemporain.

Iggy Pop was the lead singer and lyricist of the Stooges, formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967. Inspired by garage rock bands of the 1960s, the Stooges are considered one of the defining proto-punk bands. In the 1970s, Pop befriended and collaborated with David Bowie. Between 1977 and 2018, Pop released 19 studio albums, including influential tracks such as The idiot, thirst for lifeNew values and most popular of 2017 post pop depression.

The Ensemble Intercontemporain was founded in Paris in 1976 by the French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez. The Ensemble, made up of 31 permanent musicians, is in residence at the Philharmonie de Paris but they compose and play music all over the world. Members work closely with composers, developing projects that blend music, dance, theatre, film, video and visual arts. The Ensemble is known for its strong emphasis on music education, including concerts for children, creative workshops for students, and training programs for future performers, conductors, and composers.

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