Japanese-British pianist Mitsuko Uchida has been named the recipient of the 2027 Léonie Sonning Music Prize, Denmark’s most prestigious music award. She will receive the prize and DKK 1 million – approximately £114,000 – at a gala concert at Copenhagen’s DR Concert Hall in May 2027.
Uchida is particularly associated with Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Schoenberg, and has built an international career marked by long-standing collaborations with leading orchestras and conductors. Born in Japan, she moved to Vienna at the age of 12 and studied there, an experience that established the Viennese repertoire as a central part of her musical life. Her international breakthrough came in 1982 with performances of Mozart’s complete piano sonatas in London and Tokyo.
The Copenhagen concert will mark Uchida’s first appearance in Denmark for more than 20 years. She last performed there in 2006, in two concerts at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
For her prize recital, Uchida will perform Haydn, Schoenberg, Mozart and Schubert, in a programme that takes in composers central to her career.
“Mitsuko Uchida is one of the most exceptional pianists in the world of classical music,” said Esben Tange, Chair of the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation. He praised her “intensely emotional presence” and “extraordinarily concentrated style of playing”.
Uchida’s Copenhagen visit will also include an event for piano students from Denmark’s three classical conservatoires, including a discussion, Q&A and performances by young pianists.
The Léonie Sonning Music Prize was first awarded to Igor Stravinsky in 1959 and has since been presented to numerous leading figures in classical music.
