Peter Gabriel, composer Jose Antonio Abreu accept Swedish Polar Music Prize

October 6th, 2009 Burciaga anthology among American Book AwardsNEW YORK — A critical work on black intellectuals and an anthology of the late Chicano poet Jose Antonio Burciaga are among this year's winners of American Book Awards. The awards, now in their 30th year, are given for outstanding work of multicultural literature and are sponsored by the nonprofit educational organization, the Before Columbus Foundation.

October 6th, 2009 Nobel literature judge: award 'too Eurocentric'STOCKHOLM — The new frontman of the Nobel literature prize jury believes the secretive panel has been too "Eurocentric" in picking winners and says there are plenty of American writers who would qualify for the award. Peter Englund's comments Tuesday come two days before the prize announcement.

October 5th, 2009 LA TOYA JACKSON struggled to accept a lifetime achievement award in honour of her brother MICHAEL at a British music ceremony last month (Sep09) - because she was still struggling to come to terms with his death. The star attended the Music Of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards in Glasgow, Scotland with sibling Jermaine to accept the King Of Pop's posthumous honour.

October 2nd, 2009 Facts about next week's Nobel Prize announcementsThe winners of the 2009 Nobel Prizes will be announced in the next two weeks, starting with the medicine prize on Monday. Here are some brief explanations of how the award winners are picked and announced.

October 2nd, 2009 STOCKHOLM - The 2009 winner of the Nobel Literature Prize will be announced October 8, the Swedish Academy confirmed Friday. The announcement next Thursday will be a first by new permanent secretary Peter Englund, who earlier this year succeeded Horace Engdahl.

September 20th, 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer LEON KIRCHNER has died of congestive heart failure. He was 90. Kirchner died on Thursday (17Sep09) at his Manhattan, New York home.

September 15th, 2009 Placido Domingo offers free concert in VenezuelaCARACAS, Venezuela — Spanish tenor Placido Domingo thrilled several hundred Venezuelans on Tuesday by showcasing his soaring voice during a free concert and heaping praise on the founder of the South American country's famed youth orchestras. Domingo said composer Jose Antonio Abreu "deserves a monument" for inspiring more than a million Venezuelan children to take up music since he founded "The System," a network of more than 200 youth and children's orchestras, over 30 years ago.

September 15th, 2009 Financier donate $10M to NY PhilharmonicNEW YORK — The New York Philharmonic says it will receive a $10 million gift from philanthropist Henry R. Kravis to endow its composer-in-residence program and fund the creation of an award in the field of new music.

September 1st, 2009 PETER GABRIEL and South American composer JOSE ANTONIO ABREU were honoured with the 2009 Polar Music Prize in Sweden on Monday (31Aug09). The odd couple shared the award, which is handed out to a pop star and a classical musician, and discussed hopes of working together.

June 22nd, 2009 Danish-Swedish drama best film at ShanghaiSHANGHAI — The Danish-Swedish drama "Original" won best picture at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival, with its male lead Sverrir Gudnason named best actor for playing the soul-searching son of a mentally ill mother. Reading from the citation, jury president "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle called the debut feature film of Antonio Tublen and Alexander Brondsted "a light, touching and subversive study of mental illness that is both compassionate and never sentimental." Accepting his trophy, Gudnason, who plays a character who tries to stop pleasing others, yelled in delight and said, "This is the best thing that anyone has ever given to me and it's going to keep me going on." The jury said "this young actor's brilliant, sensitive, and humorous performance is absolutely mesmerizing." Simone Tang was named best actress for another Danish film, "Aching Hearts," about the relationship of two high school sweethearts.

June 21st, 2009 US soprano, Ukrainian pianist win $50KLOS ANGELES — An American soprano singer and a Ukrainian pianist have won top honors at a competition that combines elements of "American Idol" and classical music. Leah Crocetto, a 29-year-old first-year fellow with the San Francisco opera, won the $50,000 first prize in the vocal portion of the third annual Jose Iturbi International Music Competition at the University of California, Los Angeles.

June 4th, 2009 Itzhak Perlman performs with Venezuela's DudamelCARACAS, Venezuela — Violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman is performing with Venezuela's top young musicians and says he is impressed by their spirit and intensity. Perlman said Wednesday that he was moved by the experience of playing with Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel and his Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Orchestra during their first of two concerts in Caracas this week.

May 14th, 2009 Rafael Escalona, vallenato legend, dies at 81BOGOTA — Rafael Escalona, the prolific composer and performer of vallenato classics that define the Colombian-born genre, has died of cancer. He was 81. His son and namesake confirmed Escalona's death on Wednesday at a hospital in the Colombian capital.

May 13th, 2009 Italian mezzo-soprano Bartoli wins Sonning prizeCOPENHAGEN — Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli has won Denmark's Sonning Music Prize. The award committee says Bartoli's "sound is unique, her technique has not been surpassed and her radiation on stage is like (opera legend Maria) Callas." The Leonie Sonning Music Foundation says Bartoli is "our days' great diva." The committee says in a statement released Wednesday that Bartoli will receive the 600,000 kroner ($110,000) award during a concert in Copenhagen on June 16, 2010.

May 4th, 2009 Composer Jerry Herman set for a special Tony AwardNEW YORK — Jerry Herman is set for a special Tony Award. The Tony administration committee says the composer of "Hello, Dolly!" and "Mame" will receive a special lifetime-achievement prize during the awards ceremony June 7 at Radio City Music Hall.