This year’s Polar Music Prize has been awarded to cellist Yo-Yo Ma and singer-songwriter Paul Simon. Each laureate receives one million Swedish krona and will be presented with his prize by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a ceremony in Stockholm Concert Hall on August 28.

The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by the late Stig Anderson, publisher, lyricist and manager of ABBA. The award recognises two individuals from different musical genres each year in an effort ‘to break down musical boundaries by bringing together people from all the different worlds of music’. Former recipients include the Kronos Quartet, Renée Fleming, Steve Reich, Valery Gergiev, Pierre Boulez, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder and Sir Paul McCartney.