The Peter Varming Memorial Prize of DKK 25,000 is awarded this year to Claus Myrup, principal violist of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. The prize was presented at the orchestra's New Year concert on 30 December 2016.
Claus Myrup very much lives up to the wording of the charter: The prize is awarded to a musician from DRSO who, through his artistic work, has made a special contribution to the orchestra's development to its current high international level. He has been an indispensable part of the orchestra since 1984 and has adorned the orchestra's string section with his large, beautiful and rich viola tone. He is extremely well-liked and respected among his colleagues and, in addition to his work with the orchestra, he has also enriched musical life over the years as a conservatory teacher and as an avid chamber musician, most recently in the Danish String Quartet.
Until his death in February 2015, Peter Varming was director of the Beckett Foundation. He was a great music lover and was particularly attached to the DRSO, with whom he often travelled when the orchestra was on tour. He was the first chairman of the Friends of DRSO.
The memorial scholarship was presented during the New Year's Concert by the current chairman of the Friends, Mogens Rubinstein, and by Peter Varming's widow Anette Faaborg on behalf of the Beckett Foundation.
Anette Faaborg motivated the award ceremony for Claus Myrup as follows:
This year, the scholarship recipient is one of the orchestra's string players. Not a violinist or a cellist or a double bassist - which it could easily be! - but a viola player. The viola may not be as prominent a soloist as the violins or cellos, but when the viola steps out into the light and plays a solo, we hear it as a beautiful, both light and dark but above all WARM voice that colours the string sound wonderfully.
At the helm - on the concertmaster disc in the viola section - is a musician who has been an indispensable part of the orchestra for over 30 years. A musician who colours the sound with his beautiful rich tone, who takes care of his viola colleagues in the finest way and who has also enriched our musical life for years as a conservatory teacher and chamber musician.
This year's award recipient is -- the viola group's concertmaster -- Claus Myrup!