The royal Swedish Academy of Music today announced the recipients of the 2025 Christ johnson Prize, recognizing excellence in contemporary orchestral composition.Composer Daniel Nelson received the main prize for his oratorio Chaplin Songs, a musical interpretation of Charlie Chaplin’s famed Great Dictator speech, while Simon Söfelde was honored with the smaller prize for his orchestral piece, Fugato. The awards, announced in Stockholm, highlight a commitment to supporting both established and emerging voices in classical music.
Daniel Nelson has been awarded this year’s prestigious Christ Johnson Prize for Chaplin Songs, recognized for his powerful and insightful musical interpretation of Charlie Chaplin’s famous monologue from the 1940 film, The Great Dictator. The award committee lauded Nelson’s ability to capture the monologue’s humanist message with “powerful musical language and direct address, with accuracy and sensitivity.” They added that his composition gives the text’s plea for peace “renewed relevance with striking and alarming intensity,” creating a work poised to resonate with audiences worldwide.
Nelson, a composer born in 1965, boasts an extensive catalog of orchestral, operatic, and stage music frequently performed by orchestras around the globe. He has cultivated close working relationships with leading Swedish orchestras, including the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, Västerås Sinfonietta, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. His most celebrated works include the concert overture Steampunk Blizzard (2016), the tuba concerto Metallëphônic (2001) – now a standard piece for tuba players – The Ghost Machine Treatise (2023) for accordion and orchestra, and the award-winning oratorio Chaplin Songs (2020), which premiered with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Beyond orchestral works, Nelson has composed several operas, including Sova Vaken (2022) at the Royal Swedish Opera, and ballet scores such as The Little Prince (2015). He previously received the Carin Malmlöf-Forssling Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2015, cementing his position as a leading figure in contemporary classical music.
Also honored was Simon Söfelde, who received the smaller Christ Johnson Prize for his orchestral piece, Fugato. The committee praised Söfelde’s “relentless intuition for the orchestral sound possibilities,” noting how the music “captures the listener from the first measure” with a “meticulous and varied firework display of layers, constantly surprising with captivating harmonies and narrative outbursts.”
Söfelde, a composer and musician born in 1988, studied at the Gotland Composer School, the Malmö Academy of Music, and the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. His compositions have been performed internationally by ensembles such as the Brussels Philharmonic, Ensemble Mise-en, and Quartour Béla. His repertoire includes the orchestral work Minnenas Skeende (2019) and numerous chamber music pieces. In 2023, he earned first prize in the contemporary category at the Piano Composition Competition Fidelio for Frammento morente and third prize at the She Lives Budapest Prize International Composition Competition.
Currently, Söfelde is working on a song cycle, Madrigalerna, setting to music the poems of Karl Appelgren. Excerpts from this work were recently premiered earlier this year by soprano Ingrid Berg and pianist Kalle Stenbäcken. In addition to composing, Söfelde is an active touring guitarist, studio musician, arranger, and producer.
The Christ Johnson Prize
The main prize is awarded for an orchestral work composed in recent years, as proposed by a special prize committee and decided upon by the academy’s board. The work can be a solo concerto or include vocal and/or electroacoustic elements. The smaller prize is given to a promising younger composer (not a student) for a composition meeting the same criteria as the main prize.
The 2025 Prize Committee: B Tommy Andersson (chair), Lisa Streich, Johan Stern.
Recipients of the Christ Johnson Prize in the last five years
2024 Lisa Streich and Matthew Peterson
2023 Marie Samuelsson and Rosali Grankull
2022 B Tommy Andersson and Andrea Tarrodi
2021 Staffan Storm and Lisa Streich
2020 Britta Byström and Malin Bång
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Daniel Nelson, photo: Ella Nelson
Simon Söfelde, photo: Gustaf Johansson
