The Swedish opera star Birgit Nilsson died in December 2005. In her will she had set up an international opera prize of one million US dollars She had picked the name of the first winner and put it in a sealed envelope which was not opened by the Prize Committee until recently and made public today. Birgit Nilsson liked a little bit of drama and wanted the existence of the prize to be held secret for three years after her death.

Plácido Domingo and Birgit Nilsson performed together for the first time at the New York Met on February 15th 1969.

The Birgit Nilsson Prize will be awarded every second or third year to a singer, a conductor or a specific production within classical music. One million dollars makes this the biggest prize in the world of classical music. The sum is close to that of the Nobel Prizes, awarded every year in Stockholm and Oslo.