Janine Jansen: NDR Music Prize

Dutch violinist Janine Jansen has been awarded the NDR Music Prize for 2007. The distinction comprises of a sum of 10.000 Euros and is intended to further support her career. Not that the money counts that much in this respect, as Janine Jansen has already been named the “Classical Download Queen”, with more online sales than any other musician in the genre and her debut album having been certified Platinum in the Netherlands. The NDR Music Prize will however further keep the eye of the media firmly fixed on Janine Jansen as a musician who has always chosen to follow her intuition and who has never let go of her love for chamber music - which, from a commercial perspective might not have been the logical choice per se. Officially, the criterium for the NDR Music Prize is artistic excellence – something audiences worldwide have already attributed to Jansen for years. The celebratory ceremony will take place today, August 22nd, with NDR director Professor Jobst Plog handing over the award to Janine Jansen as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

The prize also follows in the wake of Janine Jansen’s succesful third album, “Mendelssohn/Bruch - Concertos & Romance”, which has been released commercially in the USA early this year after a strong showing in Europe. Her recording of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” in a chambermusical setting was met with initial scepticism at first, but has by now attained the same status on the internet which Nigel Kennedy achieved with the work on the physical CD market.

Janine Jansen is currently on a neverending tour, which will see her perform live at Dubrovnik, Manchester and New York among other cities over the next few months.

Homepage: Janine Jansen