Magnificent news for Jonathan Harvey in his 70th year, when on 15 October he became only the 3rd British composer to win the Prince Pierre of Monaco Prize in Musical Composition.

The inaugural prize was awarded in 1960 for the fine arts, but later also developed into a formidable accolade for musical composition and literature.

This year the award for Harvey's orchestral work Speakings (2008) was presented to him by the Princess of Monaco at an extravagant ceremony at the Prince’s palace in Monaco. The musical council for the prize included international names such as Arvo Pärt, Gilles Tremblay, Ivan Fedele and the UK’s own Julian Anderson.  The Honorary president is Henri Dutilleux.

Previous winners include:
Peter Eötvos
Georges Aperghis
Salvatore Sciarrino
Simon Holt
Pierre Boulez
Matthias Pintscher
Elliott Carter
Wolfgang Rihm
Gérard Pesson
Heinz Holliger
György Kurtag
György Ligeti
Sir Michaël Tippett
Andrzej Panufnik