Curated playlist
Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale
- Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera closed on Broadway in 2023 after 13,981 performances.
- John GielgudJohn Gielgud was arrested months after being knighted. Backstage in Liverpool, he feared he could not face an audience.
- Francis Ford CoppolaMarlon Brando won the Godfather role only after a screen test and a reduced fee.
- Arthur MillerArthur Miller wrote Death of a Salesman in less than six weeks. He finished the first act in less than a day.
- Ingmar BergmanAt nine, Ingmar Bergman traded his tin soldiers for a magic lantern. He soon staged Strindberg puppet plays.
- Akira KurosawaRashomon won Venice's Golden Lion in 1951 after its own studio entered it reluctantly.
- Judi DenchJudi Dench won an Oscar for a role that lasted about eight minutes. She played Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love.
- Sofia GubaidulinaSoviet officials called Sofia Gubaidulina's music "irresponsible." Her work later reached the BBC Proms.
- Ravi ShankarRavi Shankar was horrified when Jimi Hendrix set his guitar on fire. The sitar master saw instruments as part of God.
- Alfred SchnittkeAlmost completely paralyzed, composer Alfred Schnittke wrote his Ninth Symphony with his left hand.