Suppose you controlled the largest award in all of classical music — $1 million a pop — who would get it? Your choice probably wouldn't be the Vienna Philharmonic (more than sufficiently financed already) or Plácido Domingo, also in a comfortable compensation bracket.
But those were the choices by the Birgit Nilsson Foundation for this year and 2009, respectively (Riccardo Muti won the prize in 2011). The announcement says the great Swedish soprano established the foundation because she was:
... concerned with the general decline of cultural values, in particular with the decline of performance standards in opera, and encountering much greater difficulties in the early years of her career than is generally known to the public.Along with honoring great artists and artistry, it was her hope in establishing this prize to provide incentive and inspiration to young artists to sustain their efforts to reach full potential by planning their careers over the long term and to perpetuate the art form.
The panel in charge of the awards:
* Eva Wagner-Pasquier, Co-director of the Bayreuth Festival
* Bengt Hall, managing director of the Malmö Opera, and former general manager of the Royal Swedish Opera
* Rupert Christiansen, opera critic of the Daily Telegraph
* Speight Jenkins, former general director of the Seattle Opera
* Clemens Hellsberg, president of the Vienna Philharmonic (who recused himself from the panel)