As a young conductor, Maestro Riccardo Muti would set his alarm at an unbearable hour and take the three-hour train ride between Florence and Rome just to hear Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson sing. On Thursday his quest came full circle when he arrived in Stockholm to pick up a $1 million prize established in the late singer's name, an award that organizers say is one of the largest in the world of classical music. The 70-year-old Naples native is the second Birgit Nilsson Prize laureate, winning the 2011 award “for his extraordinary contributions in opera and concert, as well as his enormous influence in the music world both on and off the stage.” He received the award from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a lavish ceremony at the Swedish Royal Opera later Thursday. “I'm honored and happy,” he told reporters before the ceremony. “It's important because you realize that maybe you have done something important in your life, and people around the world recognize work that you have done as a musician.” Muti is the second musician to receive the award, which was established by the Birgit Nilsson Foundation after her 2005 death. The prize was first awarded in 2009 to Spanish tenor Placido Domingo, a laureate Nilsson had picked herself but whose name was kept secret for nearly a decade before it was revealed. Nilsson, considered one of the greatest Wagnerian sopranos, never picked another winner, with a jury taking over the selection task once Domingo received his prize.
