Emmylou Harris will receive the 2015 Polar Music Prize in a gala ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall on June 9. She will be presented the prize by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, along with her fellow laureate, percussionist Evelyn Glennie. The event will be broadcast live on Sweden's TV4, viewable throughout Europe via TV4 Play. "The music of Emmylou Harris contains the history and topography of the entire American continent," reads the prize citation. "Emmylou Harris makes the world bigger and smaller, more valuable and more beautiful." Previous laureates include Kronos Quartet, Steve Reich, Youssou N'Dour, Björk, Joni Mitchell, and more.
Emmylou Harris will receive the 2015 Polar Music Prize in a gala ceremony that will take place at the Stockholm Concert Hall on Tuesday, June 9. Harris will be presented the prize by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, along with her fellow laureate, Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie. The event will be broadcast live on Swedish national television (TV4) at 8 pm CET and can be viewed throughout Europe via TV4 Play. You can watch the official announcement video below.
"No one in the history of popular music has harmonised like Emmylou Harris," reads the Polar Music Prize citation. "For five decades she has embellished other artists' recordings by adding vocal parts that did not exist in the melodies. But it is as an artist in her own right that she has made the greatest contribution. The music of Emmylou Harris contains the history and topography of the entire American continent. Her voice follows the contours of the American landscape, from the highest peaks to the endless prairie. Weather, soil and colour, it can all be perceived in her music. As she sings in one of the best of her own compositions, she is a red dirt girl from a red dirt town. Emmylou Harris has also used her position as a musician to work for feminism, animal rights and the care of people affected by war. Emmylou Harris makes the world bigger and smaller, more valuable and more beautiful."
The Polar Music Prize, an international music prize awarded to individuals, groups, or institutions in recognition of exceptional achievements, was founded in 1989, 25 years ago, by the late Stig Anderson, publisher, lyricist and manager of the legendary pop group ABBA; it carries a monetary value of one million SEK (approximately $121,000). Previous laureates include Kronos Quartet, Steve Reich, Youssou N'Dour, Björk, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, György Ligeti, Miriam Makeba, Sonny Rollins, Peter Sellars, and a host of others representing a wide range of countries, cultures, and continents.
Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell will play the Way Out West festival in Göteborg, Sweden, this August.
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