Tenor Jonathan Tetelman and soprano Serena Sáenz are among the inaugural winners of The Danish Research Foundation’s Daphne Awards.

The new international awards, which aims to place music and science on equal footing and recognize artists whose work has and will continue to have a significant cultural impact, will be presented on May 14, 2026, at Tivoli Concert Hall with the Tivoli Copenhagen Philharmonic conducted by Alondra de la Parra.

Pianist Lang Lang is the recipient of the Daphne Music Award, endowed with €650,000. Meanwhile, Saenz and Tetelman will each receive €100,000 for the “Next Generation Award.”

“With the Daphne Awards, we aim to highlight the role of music as a universal language – one that expresses ideas and emotions in ways that words alone cannot. At the same time, we want to acknowledge the artists and researchers who deepen our understanding of this language and make its value visible. The strength of a society is not measured by its wealth, but by the choices it makes in challenging times. Supporting culture and science means supporting empathy, reflection and the long-term resilience of our communities,” said an official statement issued by the Danish Research Foundation.

Founded in 1992 by Dr. Bente Juel Riis Christiansen and Dr. Claus Christiansen, the Danish Research Foundation has distributed more than €35 million in grants supporting scientific, cultural, and charitable initiatives. For the Daphne Awards, the Foundation commissioned Copenhagen-based artist Sif Itona Westerberg to design the award sculpture.

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