The New York Philharmonic has announced a $10 million gift from longtime donor Henry R. Kravis in honor of his wife, Marie-Josée Kravis, to endow a new composer-in-residence position and an award for new musical works.

Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg will be the first to hold the position of Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, a two-year post that was inaugurated with the world premiere of Lindberg's work EXPO at the opening night performance of the philharmonic's 2009-10 season. The composer-in-residence program is a major initiative of the philharmonic's newly appointed music director Alan Gilbert.

The $250,000 Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music at the New York Philharmonic will be awarded every two years, starting in 2011-12, to composers who have undertaken extraordinary artistic endeavors in the field of new music. Recipients also will receive a commission from the New York Philharmonic.

Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis have supported the commissioning of several new works by leading composers for the philharmonic, including Peter Lieberson's The World in Flower (premiered May 2009), Esa-Pekka Salonen's Piano Concerto (February 2007), and Stephen Hartke's Symphony No. 3 (September 2003).

"We are thrilled to receive such a generous gift from the Kravis family geared specifically toward the creation and fostering of new music," said New York Philharmonic president and executive director Zarin Mehta. "The philharmonic has a long history of championing the music of its time, and our decade-long relationship with the Kravis family has already helped contribute to that tradition through the commissioning of many important new works. We salute the Kravis family for its commitment to contributing to this extremely important cause, which will help to keep classical music alive and relevant in today's world and in the future."