Esa-Pekka Salonen received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the Royal College of Music on 12 May. Salonen has been granted the title as one of today’s leading orchestral conductors and composers. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales conferred the honour upon conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, pianist Lang Lang and composer James MacMillan. This is the seventh Honorary Doctorate for Salonen after honours from the Sibelius Academy in Finland, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and the University of Southern California among others.

Esa-Pekka Salonen has also been awarded the Jury Prize of the Music Critics ‘Franco Abbiati’ Italy as Best Conductor 2010. Salonen receives the prize for his performance of Janáček’s From the House of the Dead with the Filarmonica della Scala in Milan in February 2010. The jury, consisting of the Associazione Nazionale Critici Musicali – the Italian association of music critics, praised Salonen’s new approach of Janáček’s piece with a detailed analysis, and ‘the glowing sound of the orchestra on a structure of male voices’. The jury also mentioned the rich symphonic layouts with the Philharmonia Orchestra in Turin and Milan, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Ferrara and the Filarmonica della Scala in Milan, presented with passionate severity. The awards ceremony took place on 25 May 2011 at the Gallery d'Arte Moderna in Milan.