György
Kurtág’s "...concertante...", for violin, viola, and
orchestra, has earned the the 2006 University of
Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition,
bestowed "in recognition of outstanding achievement
by a living composer in a large musical genre." Worth $200,000,
it is 20th music award given since the prize's inception in 1983.
Kurtág's work was selected from a field of 145 entries from around
the world.
"...concertante..."
was commissioned by the Leonie Sonning Foundation of
Copenhagen. It made its debut in September 2003, with soloists
Hiromi Kikuchi (violin) and Ken Hakii (viola) accompanied by
the Danish Radio Orchestra under Michael Schonwandt. Since then,
the 25-minute score was performed in the U.S. by the New World Symphony
in Miami in March 2004.
György
Kurtág is one of Hungary’s most distinguished creative artists
in any field. Born in 1926, he studied piano, composition and
chamber music at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest from 1946,
and attended classes with Darius Milhaud, Olivier Messiaen and
Marianne Stein in Paris in 1957-58. His many awards and honors
include official recognition from the governments of France,
Germany, Hungary, and the U.S.
