Henze rewarded with lifetime achievement award

Chester Music composer Hans Werner Henze has been named as the recipient of the 2011German Music Author’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
A unanimous decision by the jury means that the composer, one of the most performed and celebrated of the modern era, will be recognised for his contribution to music and society.
The honour for Henze is one of the highlights of the German Music Author Award 2011 which will be held on April 14th with a special ceremony in Berlin. Having written more than 40 works for musical theatre, solo concerts, symphonies, oratorios, song cycles and chamber music, Henze has been composing music for over half a century.
The prize is presented by GEMA – the German copyright society – and is designed to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of composers to culture and society.
Henze is the third recipient of the lifetime achievement award, which has previously been presented to composer Peter Thomas in 2009 and the lyricist Michael Kunze in 2010.
The jury commented: “Hans Werner Henze is a musical personality who has worked outside the German and European borders with very strong effect. A role model for generations after him, he has written for all genres of music [and] he adds it all together with a stamp of his incomparable quality and identity.”
Henze can be typified by his willingness to adapt to an ever-changing music scene, with his work taking influence from a wide range of styles including neo-classicism, jazz, the twelve-tone technique, serialism and some rock and popular music.
He has been presented with a number of national and international accolades for his work including honorary membership in the Royal Academy of Music, the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, the Praemium Imperiale from the Japanese Emperor and the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.