This award, the premier award in the performing arts industry, recognizes artistic excellence and achievement in the arts, and I know I speak for all of us in saying that we can’t imagine another person more worthy of the honor than our beloved music director. Yannick now joins the elite ranks of notable musicians to hold this honor since the awards began in 1960, among them Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti, Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma, and Igor Stravinsky, among many others.

The announcement precedes the December Musical America Awards ceremony, which will take place at Carnegie Hall on December 8, 2015. Awards will also be presented for Composer, Instrumentalist, Vocalist, and Ensemble of the Year. And the 2016 Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts will be unveiled, featuring Yannick on the cover and a tribute inside written by noted Financial Times critic George Loomis, who writes that Yannick’s performances “…have brilliance and virtuosity but also an inherent rightness and logic in which the sum of the astutely conceived parts adds up to a richly satisfying whole.”

Musical America is the definitive news and information resource for the performing arts, and its awards are highly coveted. We are so very, very proud that Yannick and his outstanding artistry are being recognized with this distinction. And we look forward to celebrating him when he comes home with the award to Philadelphia. Bravo Yannick!!

Allison Vulgamore, President and CEO, The Philadelphia Orchestra

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