Emmylou Harris, Evelyn Glennie awarded 2015 Polar Music Prize

Americana singer and songwriter Emmylou Harris and Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie have been chosen as recipients of the 2015 Polar Music Prize, awarded each year by Swedish King Carl XVI to recognize “significant achievements in music and/or music activity and to break down musical boundaries.”

Harris and Glennie will receive their awards, often referred to as the Nobel Prize for music, June 9 in Stockholm.

“In Evelyn Glennie and Emmylou Harris, the Foundation has chosen two exceptional Laureates...,” Polar Music Prize managing director Marie Ledin said in a statement, “as both represent the spirit of the award that my father envisaged when he founded the prize. We look forward to honouring Evelyn and Emmylou and paying tribute to their exceptional music careers.”

Ledin’s father was Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, music publisher, lyricist and manager of pop group ABBA. He established the Polar Music Prize in 1989 and it is given each year to one contemporary musician and one classical musician. The prize includes a cash award of 1 million Swedish krona, or about $117,000 U.S.

“I was both surprised and honored at the news of this most prestigious award,” Harris said in a statement, “and am now looking forward to once again returning to your beautiful country where I was first so warmly welcomed those many years ago.”

Glennie, considered the world’s first full-time classical percussionist and who also is a composer of film and television soundtracks, said, “To be chosen from so many deserving people, from all genres of music, only makes me want to work harder, to make a difference and to rise to the occasion.”

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