Esa-Pekka Salonen named Artist of the Year

Music Sales composer Esa-Pekka Salonen is to be presented with the Artist of the Year accolade at this year’s International Classical Music Awards (ICMA). The jury of the awards show announced the winners for 2011 in all 20 categories.
Also picking up prizes on the night are renowned pianist and founder of the Beaux Arts Trio, Menahem Pressler, who wins the Lifetime Achievement Award and French pianist David Kadouch, who has been named Young Artist of the Year.
“Our international and independent Jury has selected the winners from a nomination list comprising over 500 CD and DVD productions and a wide range of artists and labels,” said Remy Franck, president of the jury.
“[The] winners are the expression of the highest artistry and demonstrate that this jury is a stubborn holdout for nonaligned value judgments in a world of low-common-denominator commercialism!”
Born in Helsinki, the conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen studied at the Sibelius Academy before making his conducting debut with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1979.
He has previously been appointed chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, director of the Helsinki Festival, music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the orchestra’s conductor laureate.
Salonen is known for his twentieth century music performances, though he is also praised for his interpretations of Haydn, Mahler and Beethoven.
In addition to established modern composers such as Bartok, Messiaen, Stravinsky and Hindemith, he also performs work by more recent musicians such as Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Lindberg, Saariaho and Corigliano.
The International Classical Music Awards are the preeminent awards for classical music on an international level. The jury consists of professional music critics of the most important magazines, online services and radio stations from countries including Spain, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France.