Catalan musician Jordi Savall has been awarded the 2026 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, recognising a lifetime of outstanding contributions to music. The prize is an endowment of €250,000, one of the highest in the classical music world.
As a performer, musicologist, and musical ambassador, Savall has made seminal contributions to Early music and historically-informed performance practice. A prolific recording artist since the 1970s, as a teacher and ensemble director he has had considerable influence on the Early music community worldwide.
A cellist turned viola da gambist, Savall has worked tirelessly to advance Early music, not only as a performer but also as a researcher exploring Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. He founded three Early music ensembles: Hespèrion XX (now XXI), vocal ensemble Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations, along with the ensemble Orpheus XXI, which brings together refugee musicians from North Africa and the Arab world.
Savall will perform together with musicians from his ensembles at the Siemens Music Prize ceremony, held on 23th May 2026 at Munich’s Prinzregententheater.
Alongside the main award, three Composer Prizes, each worth €35,000, will go to British composer Bethan Morgan-Williams, Armenian composer Hovik Sardaryan, and Australian composer Kitty Xiao. Each prize additionally includes a digital recording release. The 2026 Ensemble Prizes are awarded to Canadian group No Hay Banda, and the Ensemble for New Music Tallinn from Estonia.
Since 1973, the Ernst von Siemens Foundation has awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize every year to a composer, performer or musicologist who has made outstanding contributions to international musical life. Previous winners include Olivier Messiaen, Mstislav Rostropovich, Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze, György Ligeti, Claudio Abbado, Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Wolfgang Rihm, Mariss Jansons, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Rebecca Saunders, Tabea Zimmermann and Olga Neuwirth.
At the core of the Foundation’s funding initiatives is its global support for projects in contemporary music. In 2026, the foundation will increase its funding budget, awarding a total of €4.3 million.
