Peter Gabriel and Venezuelan conductor Abreu win Polar Music Prize

May 12, 2009, 10:25 GMT

Stockholm - British pop musician Peter Gabriel was Tuesday named co-winner of the Polar Music Prize 2009 for his 'ground- breaking, outward-looking and boundary-busting artistry.'

Gabriel shared the award with Venezuelan conductor, composer and economist Jose Antonio Abreu and the music network El Sistema that promotes classical music among mainly poor children in the South American country.

The network offers participants a chance to achieve 'personal development and social participation and inclusion through the collective practice of music, at the highest level,' the jury said.

Abreu's 'achievement shows us what is possible when music is made the common ground and thereby part of people's everyday lives,' the citation said.

El Sistema prodigies include conductor Gustavo Dudamel, 28, soon to become music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He holds the same position at the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Venezuela.

Another El Sistema participant is Edicson Ruiz, who at 17 became the youngest double bass player to date in the Berlin Philharmonic.

Gabriel, a well-known human rights campaigner, was a co-founder of the British group Genesis in 1966. He left in 1975. He has since recorded 11 solo albums and also composed soundtracks for movies including Birdy (1984) and The Last Temptation of Christ (1989).

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden was due August 31 to present the awards, each worth 1 million kronor (122,000 dollars), at the Stockholm Concert Hall that is also venue for the annual Nobel Prize award ceremony.

The Polar Music Prize was created in 1989 by the late Stig 'Stikkan' Andersson, former manager of Swedish super group ABBA.

In 2008, the award was shared by American soprano Renee Fleming and legendary British rock group Pink Floyd.

Sir Paul McCartney was the first winner in 1992 when he shared the honour with the Baltic states, who had recently gained independence from the Soviet Union.

Former winners include blues legend BB King, Dizzy Gillespie, Witold Lutoslawski, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Quincy Jones, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Pierre Boulez, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, Ravi Shankar, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Isaac Stern, Burt Bacharach, Robert Moog, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Miriam Makeba and Keith Jarrett.