Felipe VI and Doña Letizia congratulate Serrat after being recognized with the Princess of Asturias for the Arts: “Civic reference”

Kings Felipe VI y Mrs. Letizia They have conveyed their congratulations to Joan Manuel Serrat who turned 80 in December, for the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts that was awarded this Wednesday to the Catalan singer-songwriter, whose work in the service of tolerance and shared values ​​has been praised.

In the name of Princess Leonor, the monarch and the Asturian consort have conveyed their “most sincere congratulations” to Serrat for the award. “This award recognizes the scope of his artistic career, which transcends music and becomes a civic referenceas well as a work at the service of tolerance, shared values, the richness of cultural diversity and the desire for freedom“, the kings have expressed in their telegram.

The jury of the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts 2024, which analyzed fifty candidates from twenty-one nationalities, unanimously decided this Wednesday to distinguish Serrat. They define the singer as a “defender of dialogue against tension.” They emphasize that he is “an exponent of his inalienable vocation to build bridges between countries and generations.”

The composer, poet and also actor had been nominated on many occasions for the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, an award that last year went to the American actress Meryl Streep.

Serrat (Barcelona, ​​1943), with more than fifty years of career, has recorded more than 500 songs, more than 40 albums and has set music to the verses of the greatest poets in Spanish, such as Antonio Machado, Miguel Hernández, Neruda, Benedetti, Alberti, Lorca or León Felipe.

Author of hits like Mediterranean, Penelope, love words o To each his own themeSerrat announced his retirement from the stage in 2021 with the ‘El vice de canto 1965-2022’ tour, which closed with a memorable performance at the Palau San Jordi in Barcelona on December 23, 2022.

The Arts Award was the first of the eight awards that the Princess of Asturias Foundation announces each year to fail, and over the next few weeks the winners of the Communication and Humanities categories will be announced on April 30; Sports, May 8; Social Sciences, May 15; Letters, on the 23rd of the same month; International Cooperation, 29; Scientific and Technical Research, on June 5, and finally Concordia, on June 12.

The Princess of Asturias Awards ceremony will be held, as is traditional, in the month of October in a solemn ceremony presided over by the king and queen at the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo, accompanied by Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía.

Each Princess of Asturias Award is endowed with a reproduction of a sculpture by Joan Miró – the representative symbol of the award -, an accrediting diploma, a badge and the cash amount of fifty thousand euros.