The Danish String Quartet

When the prize is awarded in 2025, it will be something quite special. For the first time, the prize will not be given to just one individual but to an ensemble. The recipients are the Danish String Quartet, who, since their debut 23 years ago, have established themselves as one of the world’s leading classical ensembles.

Esben Tange, Chairman of the Board of the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation, is excited about the groundbreaking nature of this year’s recipients and explains why this quartet is being honored:

“Besides being four outstanding instrumentalists, the Danish String Quartet is a unique musical collective with international influence. With a performance style marked by great authority and sensitivity, where classical chamber music, brand new compositions, and Nordic folk music are equally integrated, they have created an original musical identity that serves as an inspiration to other musicians and unleashes musical energy beyond genres.”

The members of the Danish String Quartet say:

“We are honored and amazed to receive the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2025; the list of past recipients is truly impressive! We say thank you, we are humbled. We see this as a great recognition, not only for us but for chamber music in its broadest sense. This collective discipline, where you collaborate, you communicate, and you seek out each other as well as the audience. Denmark is a chamber music powerhouse, and in the Danish String Quartet, we are merely part of a large community that consists of amateurs, chamber music societies, music schools, passionate individuals, summer courses, young talents, and current and former generations of fantastic Danish chamber music ensembles.”

The quartet is also thrilled that the prize is being awarded to multiple individuals this time:

“This is the first time a collective receives the Léonie Sonning Music Prize. Thank you for this, and thank you for recognizing Denmark’s chamber music heritage: A musical tradition that is more relevant today than ever. We look forward to celebrating the prize, and we will do our best to ensure that chamber music continues to live and thrive in Denmark and across the world.”

Experience the Danish String Quartet in May and June

Anyone eager to experience the extraordinary versatility of the Danish String Quartet will have plenty of opportunities to do so in May and June of 2025. The quartet has curated a concert series that reflects their visionary approach, seamlessly crossing concert formats and musical genres.

Audiences can look forward to four intimate Gold concerts, celebrating the traditional chamber concert in Svendborg, Aarhus, Roskilde, and Copenhagen.

Additionally, the Danish String Quartet will perform alongside actor Lars Mikkelsen at the Bellevue Theatre in a brand-new musical theater performance, I Press Your Hands Warmly. This production, created by the quartet, is inspired by composer Dmitri Shostakovich’ letters and string quartets. The show will tour internationally in the coming years, and its world premiere will be part of the prize celebration.

At Refshaleøen, the quartet will host a day of celebrating Nordic folk music, featuring their own interpretation of the genre, along with performances by other folk music bands.

The grand prize concert will take place on June 5 at the Concert Hall of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, where the prizewinners will be joined by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and singers from the Danish National Girls’ Choir.

The Danish String Quartet’s original breakthrough occurred in this very concert hall in 2004, when they, as teenagers, won the P2 Chamber Music Competition. The concert will consist of two parts: The first half will be a carefully curated journey through the history of the string quartet, while the second half will feature John Adams’ masterpiece Absolute Jest for string quartet and symphony orchestra.

Esben Tange commented on the concert series:

“We are excited and proud to celebrate the Danish String Quartet with a wide range of events across the country in May and June 2025. From intimate settings where the audience is gathered closely around the classical string quartet, to a celebration of folk music and a musical theater performance – where music and words unite – to a grand prize concert that bridges early music and the present day.”

He is also particularly pleased with the location for the grand prize concert:

“By choosing the Concert Hall of the Royal Danish Academy of Music for the prize concert, where the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Danish National Girls’ Choir will also participate, we connect with the academic environment that the Danish String Quartet emerged from and continues to inspire today.”

Kim Bohr, Ensemble Director at DR, says:

“From DR’s choirs and orchestras, we extend our big and warm congratulations to the Danish String Quartet on receiving the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2025, and we are delighted to once again do our part to make the award ceremony a special event.
In a musical collective, each musician is part of a larger whole, and in DR’s ensembles, we are especially pleased to see this year’s prize awarded to a group of people that so significantly manages to bring music to life by playing together so sublimely.”