The Birgit Nilsson Prize – the world’s largest prize in classical music at 1 million US dollars – honours the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence for outstanding artistic achievements, giving special recognition to the 2021 premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Opera Innocence. It is the first festival to receive the Prize, to be presented on October 21 by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf at Konserthuset Stockholm.
President Susanne Rydén said: « The Board is proud to honour the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence with the 2025 Birgit Nilsson Prize for its outstanding artistic achievements and commitment to developing and commissioning new opera productions. (…) Today is both a moment of celebration and deep sadness, as the world mourns the loss of Pierre Audi, who died suddenly earlier this month. As General Director of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence since 2019, Pierre’s artistic passion and dedication was truly inspirational and he was looking forward to celebrating this special honour, of which he was so proud to acknowledge on behalf of all those he worked with at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.”
