The 2023 Praemium Imperiale Awards have been unveiled, with three of the winners in this year’s categories having links to music.

Most obviously of course, the Music category itself, which this year honours Wynton Marsalis, the American trumpeter, bandleader and composer, winner of nine Grammy Awards (the only musician to have won in both jazz and classical categories) and the Pulitzer Prize for Music. His Violin Concerto, written for Nicola Benedetti, was well received in our pages in 2019 by Edward Seckerson: ‘There’s something about its “evolution” that flies in the face of notated music. The emergent Spiritual at the start (there’s no other way to describe a theme that soulful) truly comes from somewhere and is effectively a figure in a landscape, a figure preferring to journey than to arrive. That’s the spirit of the piece. Marsalis knows all about such journeys: he knows where he comes from and where he’s going.'

The Concerto can next be heard in London on November 9, performed by its dedicate at the Royal Festival Hall, by the Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, and you can listen to it below.

And the other links? The Sculpture prize this year was awarded to Icelandic–Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, whose large-scale works have captivated the imagination of visitors to London’s Tate Modern. But equally memorable to any visitors to Reykjavik’s striking Harpa Hall will be Eliasson’s beautiful crystalline glass façade, inspired by – and in daily dialogue with – the surrounding Icelandic landscape and climate.

Finally, the Theatre/Film category was given to director Robert Wilson, whose collaboration with Philip Glass on Einstein on the Beach in 1976 was a significant moment both in his career and that of contemporary opera. Subsequent acclaimed music productions have embraced repertoire as diverse as Monteverdi, Puccini and Wagner, and regularly receive discussion and praise in Gramophone’s pages.

Olafur Eliasson's striking façade on Reykjavik’s Harpa Hall

The remaining two recipients – each of whom receives 15 million Yen (c.£90,000) – were Vija Celmins, the Latvian/American artist, who received the Painting prize, and Francis Kéré (Burkina Faso/Germany) who received the Architecture Award. Further young Artist Grants of 5 million Yen (c. £30,000) were awarded given to Harlem School of the Arts in New York and Rural Studios in Newbern, Alabama.

The Praemium Imperiale Awards are given by the Japan Art Association under the honorary patronage of HIH Prince Hitachi, younger brother of the Emperor Emeritus of Japan, with Lord Patten of Barnes their International Advisor in the UK. Previous music recipients have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Riccardo Muti, Arvo Pärt, Mitsuko Uchida, Martha Argerich, Yo-Yo Ma, and last year's recipient Krystian Zimerman.