College of Fine Arts professor Theodore Antoniou will receive the 2004 Herder Prize for peace and intercultural harmony – an award given to only one person in the world each year – in May, BU officials announced last week.
The award, which is given by the University of Vienna and the Alfred Toepfer Foundation of Hamburg, is given to one person of any nationality whose work contributes to the understanding of middle and southern European cultures, and comes with a 15,000 Euro – approximately $20,000 U.S. – endowment, according to University of Vienna professor Georg Winckler’s letter of congratulations.
In addition, the winner is given an opportunity to sponsor a student of his choice to study in Vienna for 10 months at no cost, according to the letter.
Antoniou said he did not have to apply for the award.
“They know what I’m doing,” he said. “My activities are not only here in the [United] States … I was commissioned for the Olympics in Munich – I perform all around the world.”
Antoniou said his work, which focuses on Greek culture and music, compliments the purpose of the Herder Prize.
“I think that what I do is very close to the concept of why they gave me this prize,” he said. “Music is meant to bring people together culturally.”
Antoniou said he was “very happily surprised” when he found out he had received the award.
“I did not know that the board of the University [of Vienna] and the Foundation decided to award [it] to me,” he said. “From [my students], I don’t expect anything – I just do what’s important for me, my students, my colleagues … if something like this happens, it’s like they give you a present, something you don’t expect.”
CFA Dean Walt Meissner praised the professor.
“The musical and cultural understandings that [he] brings to CFA every day and in all his work, is exceptional,” he said.
Antoniou said he does not yet know what he will do with the prize money, though it will likely go toward young musicians.
“My whole life is to promote the work of young creators,” he said. “It is definitely going to go for those purposes.”
The 2004 Herder Prize follows Antoniou’s experiences conducting the Radio Orchestras of Paris, Berlin and Bavaria, as well as the National Orchestra of Greece. He has published more than 150 compositions and received both the Richard Strauss Prize and the Music Award from the Greek Academy of Arts and Letters.
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