Patti Smith, Kronos Quartet to receive 2011 Polar Prize.

Sweden's highest music honor, the Polar Music Prize was announced. 

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  Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in Seattle in 1973. Kronos specializes in new music/contemporary classical music and has a long history of commissioning new works. Over 600 works have been created for the Kronos Quartet.

• American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist Patti Smith is the recipient of the 2011 Polar Music Prize, Sweden’s highest music honor.

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  Patti Smith is a musician, writer and visual artist who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album “Horses”. Smith is referred to as the “Godmother of Punk”.

• "Patti Smith has demonstrated how much rock 'n' roll there is in poetry and how much poetry there is in rock 'n' roll," said the prize committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. "She has transformed the way an entire generation looks, thinks and dreams."

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  Patti Smith performing at TIM Festival, Marina da Gloria, Rio De Janeiro. WikiMedia/DaigoOliva

• King Carl XVI Gustaf will present the one million SEK ($164,800) prize to Smith and Grammy-winning chamber musicians Kronos Quartet in August, continuing the tradition of sharing the award between a pop artist and a classical act.

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  Kronos Quartet. Photo by Michael Wilson.

• "For almost 40 years the Kronos Quartet has been revolutionizing the potential of the string quartet genre when it comes to both style and content," the committee said of the group, which is famous for their blend of several musical genres, from classic to Mexican folk, experimental and avant-garde rock.
  The prize was founded in 1989 by ABBA manager Stig Anderson, and has seen an impressive list of winners including Sir Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.

• For more info, see Patti Smith, Kronos Quartet, Polar Music Prize