Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki and Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, two relevant figures at Gulbenkian Music seasons, were distinguished with the annual prizes awarded by Musical America.

Wang, a frequent presence at the Gulbenkian Music Season, was considered Artist of the Year, and Mälkki, Principal Guest Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra, received the Conductor of the Year award.

With a notorious international career, Susanna Mälkki interprets a vast repertoire, including contemporary music and opera, and was the first women to conduct at Teatro alla Scala, in 2011. Currently the Principal Conductor of the Henlsinquy Philharmonic Orchestra, she will have her debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York, conducting L’Amour de Loin, by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. This performance will be broadcasted live at the Gulbenkian Foundation’s Grand Auditorium on the 10^th December.

This season, Susanna Mälkki will conduct the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir at the Grand Auditorium, in a concert that includes the symphonic poem Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner’s Parsifal Prelude, and a work by British composer Jonathan Harvey, entitled Messages.

Young pianist Yuja Wang is also a regular presence at Gulbenkian Music since 2007, after her acclaimed premiere at the Grand Auditorium, replacing Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin. In the past season, she performed for three times at Gulbenkian Músic and this year she will have her solo recital on the 9^th April 2017. She has been performing at the most important concert halls and venues, and records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon. With a prodigious tecnhnique, she was considered Artist of the Year, by the Gramophone maganize, at the Classic FM Gramophone Awards 2009.

Among the remaining winners this year, is composer Andrew Norman, singer Eric Owens, and the sextet Eighth Blackbird.