The wind music award was established in 2018 by The network for professional brass music in Sweden. From 2025, wind musicians in both classical and jazz can now compete for Royal Academy of Musicpp Wind Music Award.
The Academy organizes two separate competitions with three finalists and one prize winner in each category. For the classically oriented price it is The wind symphonies which 2025 is hosting, for the jazz prize it is Norrbotten Big Band. The award is aimed at soloists in woodwind and brass.
Another change for the 2025 competitions is that percussionists can no longer apply to the competition (the last two winners have been percussionists…). The deadline for applications for next year’s Wind Music Prize closes on May 21, 2024.
To the final in Wind music prize Jazz three selected wind musicians go among those who audition for the national scholarships (the same applies to the classical prize). The age limit for applications to the new jazz prize is 32 years.
The respective competition has a prize sum of SEK 100,000, with the winner receiving SEK 50,000 and the runners-up receiving SEK 25,000 each. The winners also receive offers to perform with an orchestra.
Encouragement for young jazz musicians
The saxophonist Joakim Milder is the artistic director of Norrbotten Big Band and comments:
– It feels both gratifying and obvious that the King. The Musical Academy now also welcomes wind players from jazz music to this prestigious award. It will be both a manifestation of the high artistic level among young jazz musicians and an encouragement of the regrowth that is a prerequisite for the well-being and development of the music form.
Former wind music award winner
2023 – the percussionist Rasmus Jonsson Hansson
2021 – the percussionist Filip Korošec
2019 – the clarinetist Magnus Holmander
