News
- First volume of Zinck's Complete Keyboard Works published
- South China Morning Post interview
- Christopher appointed as 34th Gresham Professor of Music
- Rediscovered Müller
- Koželuch sonatas published
- Christopher recognised by Le Muse
- A rare Cherubini instrumental work
- Coronation Music
- Japanese magazine interview
Christopher recognised by Le Muse
June 12, 2010
At the 45th Premio Internazionale "Le Muse" ceremony at the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Christopher became the first English recipient of the music award named after Polyhymnia, the Muse of sacred poetry and hymn.
In all, twelve prizes are awarded in cultural fields associated with Apollo, the nine Muses, and two honorary Muses invoked to recognise achievement in film and television. Past recipients of the Polyhymnia award include Claudio Abbado, Luciano Berio, Elliot Carter, Zubin Mehta, and Riccardo Muti, while among those previously acknowledged in the name of other Muses are Ezra Pound (Calliope), Henry Moore (Erato), Maria Callas (Euterpe), Ingrid Bergman, Laurence Olivier, and Peter O'Toole (Melpomene).
Christopher was delighted to receive such an honour in Florence, the source of all the arts we know today, and amused to find himself simultaneously beside the site of Savonarola's Bonfire of the Vanities. Now under threat from the "economic barbarians", it is especially important that the arts support each other, and Christopher praised the spirit of the ceremony, which offered a rare celebration of all the arts together.
