Dutch composer Louis Andriessen has been awarded The Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music at the New York Philharmonic. The honor recognizes a composer for extraordinary artistic endeavor in the field of new music, and is one of the world's largest new-music prizes, consisting of $200,000 and a commission to compose a work for the New York Philharmonic. The Philharmonic will give the World Premiere of a new orchestral work by Andriessen in the 2018–19 season. Nonesuch Records President Robert Hurwitz offers an appreciation here.

Louis Andriessen's new work, Theatre of the World, which explores the life of 17th-century Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher, was given its world premiere by the LA Philharmonic, led by Reinbert de Leeuw, at Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA this weekend. The multimedia production, directed by Pierre Audi, will receive its European premiere in Amsterdam, with de Leeuw and the Dutch National Opera, in June. "While eclecticism is now the compositional norm (much more so than when he was first experimenting with bold stylistic mixtures in the 1960s and '70s)," says the New York Times in its review, "Mr. Andriessen was there first, and he still does it best."

Louis Andriessen's monumental work De Materie receives its North American stage premiere with performances at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC tonight through March 30. The production, directed by Heiner Goebbels, is performed by International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), led by conductor Peter Rundel, along with ChorWerk Ruhr. The Los Angeles Times has called De Materie "the Dutch opera that the world at large had long been waiting for." The Park Avenue Armory presents a number of related events this week, including a set for two pianos with Andriessen and Jason Moran on Wednesday and an Artist Talk with the creators on Saturday.

Composer Louis Andriessen's six decades of music-making will be celebrated at the Barbican Centre in London with Andriessen: M is for Man, Music & Mystery, a series of concerts, held in Barbican Hall and at Milton Court Concert Hall, February 9–13, 2016. The series features performances of works by Andriessen, including La Commedia, De Stijl, and Rosa's Horses, as well as a conversation with the composer about his life and music.

The Nonesuch Records CD/DVD release of Louis Andriessen's opera La Commedia has won the Caecilia Prize by the association of Belgium's classical music press. The film opera, a collaboration with director Hal Hartley, is based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, with additional texts from the 16th-century German theologian Sebastian Brant, the 17th-century Dutch dramatist Joost van den Vondel, and the Old Testament’s "Song of Songs." The recording is a finalist in the 2015 International Opera Awards; the winners will be announced on April 26.

Louis Andriessen’s Grawemeyer Award–winning La Commedia is out now, as a two-CD-plus-DVD set. The film opera, a collaboration with director Hal Hartley, is based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, with additional texts including the Old Testament’s “Song of Songs.” This Dutch National Opera production features the Asko and Schönberg Ensembles, led by Reinbert de Leeuw. The Washington Post calls La Commedia "an exciting, powerful and rich piece that shows Andriessen at the top of his game." The Los Angeles Times considers it "the greatest opera of the century so far." 

Nonesuch Records releases Louis Andriessen’s Grawemeyer Award–winning La Commedia on June 10, 2014, as a two-CD-plus-DVD set. The film opera, a collaboration with director Hal Hartley, is based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, with additional texts including the Old Testament’s “Song of Songs.” This Dutch National Opera production features the Asko and Schönberg Ensembles, led by Reinbert de Leeuw. The Washington Post calls La Commedia "an exciting, powerful and rich piece that shows Andriessen at the top of his game." The Los Angeles Times considers it "the greatest opera of the century so far." La Commedia is available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store.

Composers Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, and Philip Glass, and Nonesuch Records President Robert Hurwitz have all contributed to the BBC Radio 3 documentary 50 Years of Minimalism in Music, which aired this past Saturday night. They and a number of other music pioneers spoke with American conductor Richard Bernas in this look back at five decades of Minimalism, "the musical language of our time." The program is available online at bbc.co.uk.

Louis Andriessen's Anaïs Nin will receive its UK premiere at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on April 14 in a staging by the London Sinfonietta, with Cristina Zavalloni in the title role. The London Sinfonietta co-commissioned the work, which explores Nin's erotic memories of 1930s Paris, and will perform it in an all-Andriessen program alongside his minimalist classic from the 1970s, De Staat, featuring Synergy Vocals. The composer will be in attendance for the performance.

Louis Andriessen is the focus of a week-long Immersive Composer Spotlight from Q2, the online new-music station of New York's Classical WQXR, including broadcasts of De materie, De staat, De tijd, Rosa: The Death of a Composer, and Writing to Vermeer. "Descriptions of Andriessen's style abound with the same complex energy as his ecstatic, rhythmic experimentations," says Q2. "So sit back from the computer for a moment; his music rewards full attention and doesn't take background listening lightly."

Louis Andriessen has won the 2011 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his opera La Commedia, premiered in 2008. "I was born in a sidestreet by a small canal in the medieval centre of Utrecht," says the composer. "Believe me, 71 years later, getting the world-famous Grawemeyer Award for La Commedia seems to be completely unreal ... I am very grateful for the prize." At the Amsterdam premiere of La Commedia, the Sunday Times described the work as "the distillation of a lifetime’s creativity.” You can watch a short video preview of the Netherlands Opera premiere here.

John Adams led a rare performance of Louis Andriessen's De Staat in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on Monday. The New York Times says "it was a thrill to hear the adventurous players of Ensemble ACJW perform" the piece, calling Adams "an inspired advocate" for Andriessen. The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, after the previous day's performance in Philadelphia, that what is "so astonishing" about De Staat after almost 35 years, "is that it seems ... so completely up to date."