Major prize for Kurtag

This year’s Wolf Prize in Music will go to the Hungarian composer György Kurtág, who is 98.

The citation says: György Kurtág is awarded the Wolf Prize for presenting a shining example of a true musician and a human being. His music, which deals with the existential questions of the human soul, focuses on fundamental emotions such as love and sorrow, fear, anxiety, despair, and a desire for harmony and reconciliation. His art ranges from small forms, such as his short piano works, to a large-scale cantata or opera, and it reflects the past and present of the entire history of Western music. Kurtág’s immense influence on numerous musicians is simply magical. His scholarly environment has always been lucky to absorb from him a unique spirit of devotion to music, structural thinking and harmony and hence experiencing his tutorial work as a torch of humanity.