UK rock band Led Zeppelin and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev have been named winners of the Polar Music Prize, which, you all surely know, is an annual prize awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music to recognise outstanding contributions to the world of music.
Announcing the prize, the Academy said Gergiev, artistic and general director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, had been chosen "for the way his unique electrifying musical skills have deepened and renewed our relationship with the grand tradition. He has managed to develop and amplify the importance of artistic music in these modern changing times". Led Zeppelin, meanwhile, were considered by the Academy to be "one of the great pioneers of rock".
The Polar Prize was founded by former Abba manager Stig Anderson, and winners receive a one million Kroner (£70,523 GBP) prize. Past winners have included Paul McCartney, violinist Isaac Stern and music producer Quincy Jones. Gergiev and the surviving members of Led Zepp will be awarded their prize by Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf next May.