STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Led Zeppelin (search) and Russian conductor Valery Gergiev (search) won the 2006 Polar Music Prize (search), awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
The winners will each receive a prize of $123,180, the academy announced Monday. The prize is typically split between pop artists and classical musicians. Past winners include Paul McCartney, Isaac Stern, Bruce Springsteen, Pierre Boulez and Quincy Jones.
Calling Led Zeppelin "one of the great pioneers of rock," the academy said the group's "playful and experimental music combined with highly eclectic elements has two essential themes: mysticism and primal energy."
John Bonham, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Robert Plant formed Led Zeppelin in 1968. The band disbanded in 1980 after Bonham died, but their music remains hugely popular worldwide.
Gergiev is artistic and general director of St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre. He will be principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra starting in January 2007.
He was cited "for the way his unique electrifying musical skills have deepened and renewed our relationship with the grand tradition; and for how he has managed to develop and amplify the importance of artistic music in these modern, changing times."
The prize, which was founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, manager of Swedish pop group ABBA, through a donation to the academy, will be awarded May 22 in Stockholm by Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Gergiev has confirmed that he will attend the ceremony. Page, Jones and Plant were also expected to be on hand to accept the award, organizers said.
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