Danish String Quartet receives the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2025
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.
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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 deeply honored and amazed to receive the Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2025. We are thankful and humbled. We see it as a great recognition for us, but also for chamber music in the broadest sense. This collective discipline, where you collaborate, communicate, seek out each other and the audience. Denmark is a chamber music powerhouse, and in the Danish String Quartet, we are just a part of a large environment consisting of amateurs, chamber music societies, music schools, passionate individuals, summer courses, young talents, and the current and former generations of amazing 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 has received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize. Thank you for this, and thank you for the recognition of Denmark’s chamber music heritage: A musical tradition that is more relevant today than ever before. We look forward to celebrating the prize in May and June of 2025, and we will do our best to ensure that chamber music continues to live and breathe in Denmark and across the world.”
Minifestival with award winner
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.”
About The Danish String Quartet
The Danish String Quartet consists of Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (violin), Frederik Øland (violin), Asbjørn Nørgaard (viola), and Fredrik Sjölin (cello). Until 2008, Carl-Oscar Østerlind was the ensemble’s cellist.
The quartet is known for its technical perfection, joy of playing, and innovative approach to programming and musical communication. They have won first prizes in numerous national and international competitions, including the P2 Chamber Music Competition (2004), Trondheim Chamber Music Competition (2005), and the London International String Quartet Competition (2009). Additionally, they have received the Carl Nielsen Prize (2011) and the Wilhelm Hansen Foundation Honorary Award (2015).
Twice, the quartet has been artist-in-residence at Denmark’s Radio (2006 and 2018). They have also been artist-in-residence at Lincoln Center in New York City (2013-2016), a BBC New Generation Artist (2013-2015), and named Musical America’s ‘Ensemble of the Year’ (2020).
The quartet has an extensive recording catalog, and their recordings of Carl Nielsen’s string quartets (Dacapo, 2007 and 2008) won many awards, including being selected as an ‘Editor’s Choice’ by the influential international magazine The Gramophone.
They followed this up with two albums of Nordic folk music: Wood Works (Dacapo, 2013) and Last Leaf (ECM, 2016). Both recordings were sensations in the international music world and won several awards, including Album of the Year 2017 on NPR and multiple P2 prizes. In August 2024, they released Keel Road (ECM), their third album focusing on folk music.
Hundred concerts a year in places like London, New York, and Berlin
On the renowned ECM label, the Danish String Quartet released the recording project PRISM (2018-2023), a series of five recordings that present Beethoven’s late string quartets in a new context. The recordings have received numerous positive reviews and were nominated for a Grammy.
In 2020, the Danish String Quartet introduced the project DOBBELTGÆNGER (DOPPLEGANGER), a four-year concert project in collaboration with venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York City, where commissioned works by contemporary composers – Bent Sørensen, Lotta Wennäkoski, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Thomas Adès – were performed alongside four of Schubert’s masterpieces.
The Danish String Quartet performs around a hundred concerts annually at major international venues, including Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
In addition, the quartet organizes classical concerts in Denmark, including their annual DSQ Festival, now in its 18th year, and since 2016, they have curated the concert series entitled Series of Four. They are also ensemble-in-residence at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and have, since 2022, held the annual international music course, DSQ Academy in Kerteminde on Funen, where they actively contribute to shaping the musicians of tomorrow.
Program for Danish String Quartet in May-June 2025
Gold concerts
May 18: Svendborg, Borgerforeningen in collaboration with Svendborg Chamber Music Society
May 19: Aarhus, Helsingør Theatre in collaboration with Aarhus Music Society. Get tickets here
May 20: Roskilde, Hotel Prindsen
May 21: Copenhagen, Odd Fellow Palace in collaboration with Series of Four. Get tickets here
Under the heading Gold concerts, the traditional chamber concert is celebrated from May 18-21, 2025. These four intimate concerts bring the audience close to the quartet and the music in some of Denmark’s most beautiful old chamber music halls: The Gold Hall in Svendborg, Helsingør Theatre in Aarhus, Prindsen in Roskilde, and the Odd Fellow Palace in Copenhagen. The concerts are organized in collaboration with local music societies, and the concert in Copenhagen is part of the quartet’s Series of Four. In connection with the Gold concerts, masterclasses are planned at the conservatories in Odense, Aarhus, and Copenhagen.
Musical theater performance with Lars Mikkelsen at Bellevue Theatre
Performance: May 26
Letters and string quartets by Shostakovich form the basis for the musical theater performance I Press Your Hands Warmly. The text was developed by violinist Asbjørn Nørgaard with the Danish String Quartet handling the musical arrangement. Words and phrases from Shostakovich’s letters are crafted into a monologue, performed by Lars Mikkelsen in the role of Shostakovich. The monologue is accompanied by a sound collage featuring fragments and sections from the composer’s fifteen string quartets, creating a cohesive dramaturgical flow. This gripping performance offers an intimate portrayal of Shostakovich, unlike anything seen before. The music drama will premiere in collaboration with Bellevue Theatre on May 26, 2025, and will tour internationally in 2026-2027.
Tunes & Trads – a folk music celebration
May 31 in Copenhagen,Pladeværkstedet, Refshaleøen
3 concerts, each one hour long
The Danish String Quartet has, for many years, arranged and programmed Nordic folk music alongside the great classical masterpieces. The quartet’s many critically acclaimed recordings of folk music, along with corresponding sheet music publications, have spread Nordic melodies around the world. On Saturday, May 31, 2025, the Danish String Quartet, together with two guest bands, will fill Pladeværkstedet (formerly part of B&W’s old shipyard on Refshaleøen) with folk music, dancing, and communal dining.
Prize Concert with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Danish National Girls’ Choir
June 5 at the Concert Hall of the Royal Danish Academy
1st half: A curated journey through string quartet and music history
2nd half: John Adams’ Absolute Jest
The Danish String Quartet has curated a very special prize concert. The first half of the concert offers a curated musical journey from the Baroque to the most contemporary music. This progression will both illustrate the history of music and tell the Danish String Quartet’s own story. The quartet is a classical string quartet with Haydn and Beethoven at their fingertips, but they are also shaped by Danish culture and intellectual history – by Carl Nielsen, community singing, and folk high schools. The members of the quartet are also modern, versatile musicians who can effortlessly switch between different musical genres, and this ability will also be demonstrated in the concert. In the second half of the concert, the Danish String Quartet will take on the role of soloists with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and perform John Adams’ Absolute Jest for quartet and orchestra: A modern masterpiece for string quartet and symphony orchestra, directly based on Beethoven’s legendary late string quartets from the 1820s.
Tickets will be on sale on the 11th of October 11am at DR Koncerthuset
