(Credit: © Nathalie Hennis)

Elisabeth Hetherington has won the Nederlandse Muziekprijs (Dutch Music Award).

The award is the most prestigious prize for a musician working in classical music and is bestowed by the Performing Arts Fund NL on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Hetherington will receive the award on Oct. 4, 2024, at the De Doelen concert hall in Rotterdam and Minister Eppo Bruins will present it.

In a statement, the committee said, “With seemingly effortless suppleness and clarity, she transverses a wide-ranging repertoire of renaissance, baroque, to newly composed music. Elisabeth Hetherington goes from intimate to temperamental, from serene to dynamic, with an astounding naturalness. This musical playfulness surprises the listener, makes her performances captivating and refreshing, and repeatedly casts the music in a new light.”

Hetherington is a soprano who studied Voice Performance at the University of Toronto and attained a Master’s degree in Early Music Singing at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. She has performed with The Cherry Orchard, De Vliegende Hollander and Divorce of Figaro.

The Nederlandse Muziekprijs is given to candidates who complete a study program dedicated to personal musical development, working with musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. Previous winners of the Nederlandse Muziekprijs include mezzo-soprano Jard van Nes, violinist Janine Jansen, cellist Pieter Wispelwey, recorder player Lucie Horsch, pianist Hans Minnaar, and most recently the organist Laurens de Man.