Prizewinners announced for 2023 Praemium Imperiale

The Japan Art Association has today announced that the 2023 Praemium Imperiale prize for music has been given to trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis. As part of his prize, Marsalis will receive 15 million Yen (c. £90,000). 

Given in partnership with Lord Patten of Barnes, Praemium Imperiale’s International Advisor in the UK, the Praemium Imperiale honours recipients in five categories, covering fields of achievement not represented by the Nobel Prizes. As well as the music prize, prizes in painting (this year won by Vija Celmins), sculpture (won by Olafur Eliasson), architecture (won by Francis Kéré) and theatre or film (won by Robert Wilson) are also awarded.

Born in New Orleans in 1961, Wynton Marsalis is a trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and leading advocate of American culture. Having begun performing jazz and classical trumpet music from an early age, Marsalis attended The Juilliard School in New York and, in the four decades since has released 127 jazz, classical and alternative recordings and composed hundreds of works. Marsalis adds this latest prize to a long list of accolades including nine Grammy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal. His violin concerto will be performed by violinist Nicola Benedetti with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in November.

In addition to the Praemium Imperiale Awards, the recipients of two 5 million Yen (c. £30,000) Grants for Young Artists were this year selected by International Advisor Hillary Rodham Clinton. These have been awarded to Rural Studios in Alabama and the Harlem School of the Arts which provides training in music, dance, theatre and visual arts, to around 1,600 students in New York.