Cecilia Bartoli is awarded the 2012 Herbert von Karajan Music Prize

Cecilia Bar­toli at the end of a Sac­ri­fi­cium concert

The Italian opera singer and dir­ector of the Salzburg Whit­sun Fest­ival, Cecilia Bar­toli, has won this year’s Her­bert von Kara­jan Music Prize, which comes with a sum of €50,000.

The Chair­man of the Board of Trust­ees of the Cul­tural Found­a­tion Fest­spiel­haus Baden-Baden, Clem­ens Bor­sig, said Bar­toli was hon­oured for her con­stant quest to dis­cover for­got­ten treas­ures of music his­tory, and for rais­ing aware­ness of clas­sical music. The award will be presen­ted at a gala con­cert at the Novem­ber 30, and the prize money will be used for train­ing young people.

The board also noted the great suc­cess of the mezzo-soprano, who has sold ten mil­lion records, won five Grammy music awards and two Clas­sical Brit Awards. In Ger­many, she has received nine Echos.

The Her­bert von Kara­jan Music Prize has been awar­ded since 2003 in the Fest­spiel­haus Baden-Baden. The prize is fun­ded by the Her­bert von Kara­jan Fam­ily Found­a­tion Heli­belle. Pre­vi­ous recip­i­ents of the award have been Anne-Sophie Mut­ter (2003), Alfred Brendel (2008), Valery Ger­giev (2006), Daniel Bar­en­boim (2010), and Helmuth Rilling (2011).