Kirill Petrenko
(c) Alfonso Salgueiro

Next year, conductor Kirill Petrenko will receive the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2026. The award ceremony will take place at a grand gala concert at DR Koncerthuset on June 13, 2026.

Kirill Petrenko has been chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2019. From 1997 to 2018, Kirill Petrenko primarily conducted opera at a number of the world’s leading opera houses. He began his career at the Vienna Volksoper 1997, and just two years later was appointed Music Director of the Theater Meiningen.

From 2002 to 2007 Kirill Petrenko served as Music Director of the Komische Oper Berlin, and from 2013 to 2020 he held the prestigious position of General Music Director at the Bavarian State Opera.

The Léonie Sonning Music Prize was first awarded in 1959, and Petrenko joins a roster of recipients that includes Leonard Bernstein, Igor Stravinsky, and Miles Davis – as well as last year’s recipient, the Danish String Quartet.

The award is accompanied by no less than 1 million DKK (approx. €134,000