Kirill Petrenko awarded the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2026

Elza van den Heever Jennifer Holloway Alexander Soddy Simone Young Wolfgang Koch Anja Kampe Jaap van Zweden Magnus Dietrich Paul Pigster Tara Erraught Annette Dasch Thomas Guggeis Joana Mallwitz Kwangchul Youn Tanja Ariane Baumgartner Maria Bengtsson Bertrand De Billy Eve-Maud Hubeaux Kirill Serebrennikov Kirill Petrenko
Written by Gabriele Fauchet

13 JUNE, DANISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Kirill Petrenko has been awarded the 2026 Léonie Sonning Music Prize – one of the most prestigious honors in classical music, whose previous recipients include Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, and Miles Davis. To mark the occasion, Petrenko will conduct the Danish National Symphony Orchestra on June 13th, performing a program of works by Mendelssohn and Schumann, as well as Richard Strauss's spectacular Also sprach Zarathustra.

This outstanding event precedes an exciting conclusion to Petrenko's 2025/26 season. On June 27, the Berlin Philharmonic will close its season with its traditional open-air concert at the Waldbühne, featuring Jonas Kaufmann in a program of works by Verdi, Respighi, Leoncavallo, and other composers.

Gabriele Fauchet
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