Peter Sellars speech: The importance of music

Polar Music Prize Laureate Peter Sellars speaks about the importance of music in his acceptance speech. From the 2014 Polar Music Prize Ceremony. FULL TEXT BELOW. Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, and amazing Swedish people: hello! What an overwhelming and completely chocking experience. I have to thank this amazing committee, that came up with this incredibly radical, unusal choice of … me. Of course I thank my family, because they raised me to care about the things I care about, and to know that we bring them into the world in order to change the world, with incredible spiritual force – and that spiritual force is in music. Music is what holds the world together. This world, the next world, and the previous world, and we have all of that running in our pulse, running in our blood. That’s what music awakens, quickens, brings back to life – brings all of us to life. And the committe, by choosing me, is making this amazing statement, that music is not just about music, but what’s so powerful about music is: it’s about everything else in the world. Music is not about itself. It’s about everything else we care about, we think about, we feel. What I get to do is put music on a stage, to describe people’s lives, to describe people’s hope, to describe everything people long to have in this world --- which comes in its first form through music. We need music in the schools, we need music in our homes, in our lives, we need music in business and in politics … please. And we need music in prisons and refugee camps. Music is about everything we’re hoping for and that’s not here yet, and music is here ahead of time to tell us: it’s coming. Music gave me the opportunity, as someone who is not a practising musician, to be a collaborator, and a friend, to so many of my musical family. These incredible composers, singers, conductors who I work with every day, and who teach me everything, who are unbelievably patient and who bring into my life and the world things I could never, ever, have imagined in a million years. Every day, to be able to work with music is its own incredible award. And now, forward. We need more justice. Music is about balance, precision, understanding, and beautifully judged gesture. We need more equality. Music creates this space that we have no choice but to share. We have to realize that we’re sharing everything on this planet. The water, the air, the hopes of our children. This deep, shared space is created by music. Justice comes into the world when a courageous, beautiful human being raises their voice and sings power, beauty, grace, and joy. Thank you.