Paul Moravec Wins Pulitzer Prize for Tempest Fantasy
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Paul Moravec has been recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for his Tempest Fantasy. The work was premiered on May 2, 2003, with David Krakauer and the Trio Solisti at the Morgan Library in New York.
- LISTEN to a RealAudio except of Tempest Fantasy.The salutation is for “distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance in the United States during the year.” The award is accompanied by a $10,000 cash prize, an increase of $2,500 over last year.
Currently head of the Music Department at Adelphi University, Moravec has already been honored with a number of distinctions, including a Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, a Fellowship in Music Composition from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, a Camargo Foundation Residency Fellowship, a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship and a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. Moravec holds degrees from Harvard and Columbia University. Many of his works are published by Subito Music, though Tempest Fantasy is currently self-published.
Other recent world premieres of Moravec’s work include: The Time Gallery with Eighth Blackbird at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Montserrat: Cello Concerto with the Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola (NYC); A Crowd of Stars with Robert White and Brian Zeger at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Spirit, a cantata commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the flight of the Spirit of St. Louis; and Chamber Symphony, commissioned by the Bridgehampton Festival for its 20th anniversary season in August, 2003.
Pulitzer Winners from the Last Decade
2004: Tempest Fantasy Paul Moravec
2003: On the Transmigration of Souls John Adams
2002: Ice Field Henry Brant
2001: Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra John Corigliano
2000: Life is a Dream, opera in three acts: Act II, Concert Version Lewis Spratlan
1999: Concerto for Flute, Strings, and Percussion Melinda Wagner
1998: String Quartet No. 2, Musica Instrumentalis Aaron Jay Kernis
1997: Blood on the Fields (Oratorio) Wynton Marsalis
1996: Lilacs for soprano and orchestra George Walker
1995: Stringmusic Morton Gould
1994: Of Reminiscences and Reflections Gunther SchullerA recording of Tempest Fantasy along with his Mood Swings, B.A.S.S. Variations, and Scherzo performed by the Trio Solisti and clarinetist David Krakauer will be released by Arabesque Records.
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: Piano Concerto No. 3 by Peter Lieberson, premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra on November 26, 2003, in Minneapolis, Minn. (G. Schirmer, Inc.), and Cello Counterpoint by Steve Reich, premiered on October 18, 2003, at The Krannert Center, Champaign-Urbana, Ill. (Boosey & Hawkes).
The complete roster of 88th annual Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music, awarded on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board, were announced this afternoon by Columbia University.
The nominating jurors in the music category were previous Pulitzer winners Robert Ward, professor emeritus, Duke University, Durham, NC (chair), Tim Page, music critic, The Washington Post, and Wayne Peterson, professor emeritus of composition, San Francisco State University, as well as David Baker, distinguished professor of music and chairman of the jazz department, Indiana University, and Ara Guzelimian, senior director and artistic advisor, Carnegie Hall, New York City.
The presentation of the awards will be made at a luncheon on May 24, 2004, at Columbia University.