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NEWS
Breaking News
Plácido Domingo to Establish Wagnerian Singer Operalia Category with $1 Million Nilsson Prize
October 14, 2009
Receiving the inaugural Birgit Nilsson Prize in Stockholm on Tuesday, Plácido Domingo announced that he intends to use the $1 million award to establish a category for Wagnerian singers within the framework of his worldwide opera competition, Operalia, The Associated Press has reported.
Presented by King Carl XVI Gustaf in a formal ceremony at the Royal Swedish Opera, the award is meant to honor Domingo's "unrivaled contributions to the world of opera" during a career that has lasted more than five decades. Nilsson, who died at the age of 87 on December 25, 2005, selected Domingo to be the first recipient of the prize nearly ten years ago, though her choice was kept secret until February 20, 2009.
In his acceptance speech, Domingo described Nilsson as "one of the greatest artists, if not the greatest," and compared the award to the "Nobel Prize in music."
Nilsson and Domingo first performed together in a matinee of Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera in 1969. Prior to her retirement from the opera stage in 1984, Nilsson and Domingo remained good friends but infrequent colleagues on the opera stage. 
More information can be found at The Associated Press and BirgitNilssonPrize.org.
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