Max Martin and Cecilia Bartoli named 2016 Polar Music Laureates

The Polar Music Prize, the world’s most prestigious music accolade, in this its 25th year, has announced that Max Martin, Grammy-Award winning and globally acclaimed songwriter, and Cecilia Bartoli, leading mezzo-soprano singer, are the richly deserving 2016 Laureates. Both Laureates will attend the gala ceremony and receive their Prizes from King Carl XVI on 16 June in Stockholm’s Concert Hall.

Max Martin, from Stockholm, Sweden, first rose to prominence in the mid-nineties writing a string of hits for artists including Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and Justin Timberlake. He has co-written over 20 Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits, including Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off’, The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face”, Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” and Pink’s “So What”. Max Martin has achieved over the last 20 years what no other songwriter has ever come close to. As a world leader in his field, Max Martin has the third-most Number One singles in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, behind only Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

Ellie Goulding was among the first to send her congratulations to Max Martin on a “very well deserved Polar Music Award”, while Britney Spears said: “I think you’re a genius, it’s such an honour to work with you…you’ve been a part of my career from the beginning.” Justin Timberlake also congratulated Max, saying: “…no one deserves it more. You are a master.” Katy Perry talked about the “wonderful back and forth” of the working process with Max, and how he “sets the scene for it to be really creative”, and Pink said: “you blow my mind and I’m really proud of you.”

Cecilia Bartoli is the most successful mezzo singer in the world. Few vocalists can boast a career as glittering as Bartoli; renowned for her career-long relationship with the music of Mozart, Cecilia Bartoli, from Rome, Italy, is one of his finest interpreters. Her solo releases have achieved enormous success with extraordinary, mutli-million selling albums, making Cecilia Bartoli one of the world’s best-selling artists in the field of classical music.

The Polar Music Prize, also referred to as the “Nobel Prize for music,” is an international recognition of excellence in the world of music. The first Laureates in 1992 were Paul McCartney and the Baltic States and the most recent, was percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and singer Emmylou Harris. The roll call of former Laureates reads like a who’s who of modern classical music: Dizzy Gillespie, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, Renee Fleming, Ray Charles, Youssou N’dour, Mstislav Rostropovich and Kronos Quartet.

The Prize was founded by Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, the publisher, lyricist and manager of ABBA, to honour “significant achievements in music and/or music activity and to break down musical boundaries.” In 2016, The Polar Music Prize celebrates its 25th year.

For further information on the Polar Music Prize please visit www.polarmusicprize.org.