Courage for utopia - TONALi Award
05. May 2025
#prize
We're popping champagne corks: this year's TONALi Award “Courage for Utopia” will be presented to Franziska Ritter and Christian Siegmund as founders of 1:1 CONCERTS. The award, which will be conferred for the fifth time this year, acknowledges people and projects that redefine the social significance of music and art with visionary thinking and bold ideas and celebrates artistic projects with an impact that goes beyond the classical concert business. Previous winners include Elia Rediger, the Trickster Orchestra, the Stegreif Orchester and DieOrdnungDerDinge.
Here's what makes it special: The prize money comes with an artistic residency! Next year we will curate the “Social Symphony” No. 3 as part of the 16th TONALi Festival at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg - a project we are looking forward to with great eagerness.
This prestigious award will be presented to us officially on 4 July 2025 by Hamburg's Senator for Culture Dr Carsten Brosda in the main hall of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg as part of the concert “Social Symphony” No. 2 - a highlight of the TONALi Festival 2025. Come to Hamburg and celebrate with us!
This is how the Stegreif Orchester poetically presented the prize last year to the current award winners DieOrdnungDerDinge
We see this award not only as a personal honour, but also as a token of appreciation for all those who bring 1:1 CONCERTS to life. Each and every one of you - whether on or behind the stage, as a host, listener or supporter - has contributed to turning an idea into an international movement.
This award is both an encouragement and a source of joy for us: it shows that change on a small scale can have a huge impact and that our belief in the power of encounters makes a difference. We would like to thank TONALi for this recognition and can't wait to start working with everyone involved in developing bold new ideas.
Franziska Ritter & Christian Siegmund
With the TONALi Award to our name and the prospect of the artistic residency next year, we feel encouraged to continue dreaming and creating boldly. We look forward to developing new projects together with you all, creating spaces for encounters and rediscovering the power of music time and time again.
Thank you for being part of this movement - this award goes to all of us!
1:1 CONCERTS has stood since 2019 for a new, personal form of music mediation: 1 musician and 1 listener meet for 10 minutes in a protected space - without words, but with dedicated attention. Over 20,000 such concerts worldwide have shown how intensively music can connect people. The format thrives on a committed community of musicians, hosts and organisers, promotes spaces of resonance and supports independent musicians through donations - which is particularly important in these challenging times for the cultural landscape.
