Organist Laurens de Man (30) wins the Dutch Music Prize. It is the first time that the most important Dutch state prize for classical musicians has been awarded to an organist.
According to the Committee of the Performing Arts Fund, De Man “gives energetic performances with often new repertoire and surprising program choices”. He is praised for “his intelligent virtuosity and his idiosyncratic and imaginative use of timbre in his interpretations of both known and unknown repertoire.”
Winners of the Dutch Music Prize have had a development process that the committee believes has been successfully completed. De Man is said to have mainly focused on showcasing the diversity of the organ, improvisation and clavichord playing, and recorded two CDs that will be released this spring.
Baritone Raoul Steffani won the prize last year. Previous winners of the prize, which has been awarded since 1981, include Lucie Horsch (2020), Hannes Minnaar (2016), Janine Jansen (2003) and Pieter Wispelwey (1992).
De Man will receive the prize on March 7 in the Orgelpark in Amsterdam. He will then play, among other things, a new work by Martijn Padding.
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