Alma Deutscher - plea for Harmony at the European Culture Prize ceremony in Vienna

On Oct. 20, 2019, Alma received the European Culture Prize in a ceremony at the Vienna State Opera. After thanking baritone Thomas Hampson for his generous words of praise, Alma made a plea for melody and for harmony in the modern world: "until now, I have always composed melodies and harmonies just as they pour out from my heart. But I have often been told: "as a modern composer, you’ll soon have to forget your melodies, and concentrate on dissonance, as befits our modern age." But maybe this award today means that a more tolerant age is dawning, when melody and beauty will once again be permitted. Perhaps this is a message that there is more to European Culture than just dissonance. Perhaps there is also a place in European Culture for harmony. And how beautiful it would be if this message could go out into the world from Vienna, from the city of music."