Questions & Answers about the Daphne Awards

In Greek mythology, Daphne represents transformation—the moment where something sensed and intuitive assumes a lasting form. This idea lies at the heart of the Daphne Awards. Music has a transformative capacity: it shapes the brain, influences human development, and connects artistic expression with scientific insight and societal impact. By invoking the name Daphne, the awards point to a shared ground between art and knowledge—where creative excellence, research, and human understanding converge in ways that are both meaningful and transformative.

The Daphne Awards are an international awards initiative within music, established by the Danish Research Foundation. The awards honour musicians of the highest international standing whose artistic excellence, influence, and sustained contribution place them among the leading figures in the global music landscape. The Daphne Awards are financed through a dedicated endowment specifically established for this purpose.

In 2026, three awards are presented: the Daphne Music Award (Main Prize) and two Next Generation Artist Awards.

The Daphne Awards recognize artists at different stages of their careers, united by exceptional artistic quality. The Daphne Music Award (Main Prize) honors internationally established artists who occupy a leading position within the global classical music landscape and combine artistic excellence with international reach and sustained engagement beyond the concert stage. The Next Generation Artist Awards honor young, highly promising artists whose talent and artistic potential signal the future of classical music.

The recipient of the Daphne Music Award is selected through a structured and independent process designed to ensure artistic excellence, integrity, and clear decision-making responsibility.

A curated group of highly qualified professionals is invited to individually nominate artists and ensembles within classical music. All nominations are submitted confidentially.

Based on these nominations, a professional evaluation is carried out, leading to a shortlist comprising a small group of candidates. All shortlisted candidates are considered credible candidates for the award and are each accompanied by a professionally grounded justification.

The final decision is made by the Board of the Danish Research Foundation, which selects the recipient from among the shortlisted candidates.

The Daphne Music Award is not presented as a lifetime achievement prize. It recognises artists or ensembles who, through their music, have made a tangible difference and who perform classical music at the very highest international level.

The Daphne Awards are endowed at a level that reflects their international ambition and their position among the most significant cultural honors internationally. The Daphne Music Award is endowed with €650,000, while each Next Generation Artist Award carries an endowment of €100,000.

The Daphne Music Award is conceived as an international honorary and platform prize, reflecting the level of artistic excellence, global reach, and sustained impact it recognizes. It is not designed as a national funding instrument, a talent support scheme, or a cultural-policy distribution mechanism, but as recognition at the highest artistic level.

The first recipient of the Daphne Music Award is Lang Lang. Lang Lang combines artistic excellence with extensive global engagement and a rare ability to translate artistic achievement into broad societal impact. Alongside his international concert career, Lang Lang has developed long-term initiatives that expand access to music education and musical communities for children and young people worldwide. Through Keys of Inspiration, he has helped establish free, structured music education in public schools in underserved areas, while his initiative Music Heals brings music into hospital and clinical settings to support well-being, reduce anxiety, and assist children with special needs. Lang Lang embodies the combination of artistic level, public reach, and societal responsibility that the Daphne Music Award is designed to honor.

The 2026 Next Generation Artist Awards are presented to Serena Sáenz and Jonathan Tetelman. Both artists represent a new generation of vocal excellence in classical music, combining distinctive artistic voices with strong international momentum early in their careers. Together, they exemplify the artistic quality, individuality, and future potential that the Next Generation Artist Awards are created to recognize.

The Daphne Awards are initiated and funded by the Danish Research Foundation, a privately funded institution that for more than two decades has supported cultural and scientific development in Denmark and internationally. The prize is financed through a separate, dedicated budget allocated specifically to the Daphne Awards.

The Danish Research Foundation has, for many years, operated with a clear dual focus in its grant-making activities, consistently supporting both culture and research. Making this explicit strengthens the institutional logic and helps legitimize why a music prize sits naturally within the Foundation’s long-term mission.

The long-term ambition of the Daphne Awards is to establish an international platform where music, research, and society converge.