The Léonie Sonning Music Prize, Denmark’s largest music prize and one of the most significant internationally, will be awarded for the first time since its establishment in 1959 to a musical ensemble. For 2025, the prize and the accompanying monetary award, totaling 1,000,000 Danish kroner (US$150,000), will be presented to the Danish String Quartet. The award concert and ceremony will take place on June 5 at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and will be broadcast on Danish Radio’s classical program.
The Danish String Quartet made its debut at the Copenhagen Summer Festival in 2002 and has since established itself as one of the most distinguished and innovative chamber music ensembles. It consists of Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (1983) and Frederik Øland (1984) on violin, Asbjørn Nørgaard (1984) on viola, and Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin (1982) on cello. On May 8, 2025, we saw them in Athens performing works by Shostakovich and selections of traditional Scandinavian music.
The spirit of that evening is encapsulated by Esben Tange, Chairman of the Board of the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation, in the reasoning behind the decision: “Beyond being four excellent virtuosos, the Danish String Quartet is a unique musical ensemble with international influence. With an interpretive style characterized by great authority and sensitivity, in which classical chamber music, brand new compositions, and Scandinavian folk music coexist equally, they have created an original musical identity that serves as an inspiration for other musicians and unleashes musical energy beyond established musical genres.“
The award concert and ceremony will take place on June 5 at the Concert Hall of the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen – the same hall where, in 2004, as young musicians, they won the P2 Chamber Music Competition, organized by Danish Classical Radio.
The concert will consist of two parts. For the first part, the awardees curated a musical journey that will narrate the history of quartet music from Baroque, Haydn, and Beethoven to Carl Nielsen and traditional Scandinavian music, as well as the history of the Danish String Quartet itself. In the second part, they will perform as soloists John Adams’ work Absolute Jest for string quartet and orchestra, directly based on Beethoven’s legendary late string quartets from the 1820s. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Danish National Girls’ Choir will collaborate in the concert. Adam Hickox conducts.
The live broadcast of the evening on Danish Radio’s classical program will take place on June 5 and will start at 7:20 PM local time (8:20 PM Greek time) with radio host Rie Koch.
More information about the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2025
You can download the concert program here
