October 2006 - Nr. 10
Dresden’s Famous Frauenkirche Serves
as Backdrop for
European Awards Ceremony
TWIG - Mikhail Gorbachev and Klaus Maria Brandauer were among the leading luminaries honoured on Tuesday in Dresden’s baroque Frauenkirche at a European culture awards ceremony.
A symbol of peace: The Frauenkirche
Pro Europa, a Basel-based European cultural foundation, bestows a range of awards at various times and venues annually to prominent personalities and young rising stars for exceptional achievements, initiatives and creative talent. At the Dresden event, eight prizes were awarded under the leitmotiv of "human memories, hopes and encounters".
An acting prize went to international Oscar-nominated Austrian star Klaus Maria Brandauer, who this year directed a new version of The Threepenny Opera at Berlin’s Admiralspalast theatre and has appeared in films such as Out of Africa (1985).
Two German performers were honored for their solo careers - bass-baritone singer Thomas Quasthoff and Dresden-based cellist Jan Vogler. Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca received the European culture prize for music and Russian violinist Mikhail Ovrutsky was awarded a €2,500 ($3,130) cash prize for young artists.
The Duke of Kent, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, moreover was awarded the "Pro Humanitate" prize for deepening German-British relations. He was instrumental in helping deliver the golden cross atop the renovated Frauenkirche church destroyed by Allied bombs during World War II. The Russian Orthodox Church and Germany’s Lutheran Church moreover received a communication prize in recognition of their ongoing dialogue.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the former Soviet Union, and Lothar de Maizière, the last leader of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), meanwhile were honoured for fostering Russo-German understanding through what has come to be known as the "Petersburger Dialog".
Pro Europa was established in 1993 with a view to boosting inter-cultural dialogue and smooth relations among European states and regions. Past prizes have gone, among others, to landscape architecture, cultural communication, cross-border regional city partnerships and Franco-German cultural relations.
This year’s winners were each awarded a certificate and a
smbolic sculpture of a "European pitchfork" melting over a chair. Pro Europa
operates under the patronage of the European Parliament, the European
Commission and the Council of Europe, which brings together a broad alliance
of 46 countries and is not an EU institution.
Republished with permission from "The
Week in Germany"
Links:
Pro Europa (in German) Europäischer Kulturpreis Dresden 2006 (in German) Elina Garanca Thomas Quasthoff Jan Vogler Mikhail Ovrutsky About the Frauenkirche
