Léonie Sonning Talent Award Winners 2025
On 12 May 2025, the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation awarded this year’s talent prizes to young, innovative musical talents and ensembles, and we are proud that once again, a significant number of the recipients are current or former RDAM students.
“The ten talents, each of whom receives DKK 100,000 from the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation, represent a diverse field of young individuals, several of whom are in the process of challenging the traditional boundaries of classical music,” writes the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation in its press release.
The prizes are not open for application but are awarded by the board of the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation. The award ceremony took place in a festive setting in the Carl Nielsen Foyer at RDAM, attended by the recipients, their guests, and the board of the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation.
“It is clearer than ever that the desire for innovation is thriving among young talents. But this year’s group also shows a particularly strong ability and determination to develop the expression of classical music (…). It is wonderful to witness, and it is therefore a great pleasure to award the prizes to these ten talents (…),” says Esben Tange, Chair of the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation.
This year’s talent prize recipients:
- Benjamin Arnika Skydsgaard, RDAM
- Dagny Mehus, RDAM
- Laura Helene Hansen, RDAM
- Sara Amalie Heise, RDAM
- Trio Fantasma, RDAM
- Josefine Weber Hansen, RDAM and SDMK
- Johanne Sofie Bech Madsen, DJM
- Sophie Søs Meyer, DJM
- Valdemar Most, Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler”
- Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason, Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler”
Congratulations to all the recipients of this year’s talent prizes!
You can read more and watch interviews at www.sonningmusik.dk/talentprismodtagere
Also read the article about the Danish String Quartet, recipients of the 2025 Sonning Music Prize.
Photo: Rune Grassow / Milimeter Media
