Leonard Cohen has been awarded the prestigious Glenn Gould Prize, dubbed the “Nobel Prize of the Arts”.

The award is presented biennially to “an individual for a unique lifetime contribution that has enriched the human condition through the arts.”

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Cohen was selected by an international panel of judges, which included film director Atom Egoyan and Stephen Fry.

Cohen accepted the award on Monday night [May 14] at Toronto’s Massey Hall, along with the $50,000 prize money, which he then donated to the Canada Council for the Arts.

The Glenn Gould Prize is named after the Canadian classical pianist. Previous recipients of the Glenn Gould Prize have included jazz legend Oscar Peterson, Venezuelan conductor José Antonio Abreu and French composer Pierre Boulez.

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Leonard Cohen plays his only UK date at Hop Farm on Saturday, September 8.