Recipients of the 29th Polar Music Prize were announced today and include 11-time Oscar nominated songwriter Diane Warren and Russian-born opera singer Anna Netrebko. The 2020 gala ceremony is scheduled for June 9 at Stockholm’s Grand Hôtel. Each Laureate receives prize money of one million Swedish Kroner (just over $100,000).
The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson to celebrate the power and importance of music, with Paul McCartney and the Baltic States named as the first awardees. Recent recipients include Metallica, Max Martin, Sting and Wayne Shorter, while previous honorees have included Emmylou Harris, B.B. King, Bjork, Paul Simon, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan.
Said Marie Ledin, managing director of the Polar Music Prize: “I am delighted that the 2020 Polar Music Prize Laureates are Anna Netrebko and Diane Warren, two impressive, supremely talented women, who are both at the top of their respective professions.”
Added Netrebko: “When I get on stage, something happens and the quality of the performance is ten times better, like I have a voice telling me what to do. It’s always been with me. You are entering the stage to give everything you have. You have to put your soul, your heart and all of your knowledge to reach the souls of the audience.”
Warren, in her typical deadpan, offered: “I don’t have confidence in myself as a human being, but I have unshakeable confidence in my music. When I know something is right, when I know a song is right for somebody…I believe, and it’s unshakeable.”
Warren’s credits include collaborations with Lady Gaga, Whitney Houston, Cher, Aerosmith, Céline Dion, Aretha Franklin, Toni Braxton and Mariah Carey, among many others.