Pianist Michael Wollny Wins the 2026 Bavarian Art Prize for Creative Work

German jazz pianist and composer Michael Wollny will receive the 2026 Bavarian Art Prize (Bayerischer Kunstpreis) in the Creative Work category. Bavaria's Minister for Science and the Arts, Markus Blume, announced the award in Munich on Oct. 19, according to a press release from the state ministry.

"Jazz has a Bavarian ambassador!" Blume said in the release (quotations here are JazzLib translations from German). He praised Wollny's ability to unleash "a real firework of sound" one moment and hold an audience with the finest nuances the next, and said the result is "an unmistakable style that sets international standards." Wollny, he added, shows that jazz is "far more than a genre" and is instead "an invitation to discover new things, to push boundaries and to be surprised."

The prize recognizes outstanding achievements in Bavaria's arts and culture in eight categories: exhibition, voice, creative work, innovation, programming, cultural ambassador, performance and special venue. Each category carries €10,000, and the winners are chosen by the arts minister on the recommendation of an expert jury drawn from culture and media. The ceremony will take place on Nov. 12 at the Bergson Kunstkraftwerk in Munich, hosted by Vivian Perkovic. Bavarian broadcaster BR will stream it live from 7 p.m. local time in the ARD Mediathek and air it on BR television on Nov. 15.

Wollny was born in 1978 in Schweinfurt, in the Franconia region of northern Bavaria. According to the ministry, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg from 1997 with Chris Beier, earning his artistic diploma with distinction in 2002 and a master class diploma in 2004. He is now a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig and performs solo, in trio and with orchestras in Europe, the United States and Asia.

The ministry lists Heinz Sauer, Nils Landgren and Emile Parisien among his musical partners, and notes that he has performed with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and appeared as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. His earlier honors include eight ECHO Jazz awards, the SWR Jazzpreis, the German Record Critics' Award, and the Académie du Jazz's European Jazz Musician of the Year title in 2015.

The timing puts a spotlight on Wollny's next project. The ministry says his current program, "eine winterreise," explores the world of Schubert's song cycle in his own way. German magazine Jazz thing reports that the solo album Eine Winterreise will be released on Oct. 30 on ACT and that Wollny begins touring on Nov. 20.

The award adds to a string of state honors from his home region; Deutschlandfunk notes that he has previously received Bavaria's Kunstförderpreis, its state music prize and the Kulturpreis Bayern.