Peter Eötvös awarded Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement by Venice Biennale

6 July 2011

Peter Eötvös has been awarded the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Biennale di Venezia. The decision was made by the Board of Directors of the Biennale, chaired by Paolo Baratta, and with the recommendation of the Artistic Director of the Music Sector, Luca Francesconi. Previous winners in recent years have included Helmut Lachenmann (2008), György Kurtág (2009) and Wolfgang Rihm (2010). 

The citation from the awards body described Eötvös as “a precocious conductor with considerable talent... an absolutely complete musician and craftsman, who over the past twenty years has demonstrated extraordinarily fertile creative power as a composer. In both his callings, Eötvös brings together an exceptionally fine ear and level of knowledge, with iconoclastic and experimental delight”.

The Golden Lion, given for lifetime achivement, will be presented to Eötvös in a ceremony on 24 September at the Teatro alla Tese, coinciding with the opening of the famous festival.

Biennale di Venezia website