Eighteen Composers Receive AAAL Awards Totaling $190,000

Eighteen Composers Receive AAAL Awards Totaling $190,000

The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced the eighteen recipients of this year’s awards in music, which total $190,000. The winners were selected by a committee of academy members: Ezra Laderman (chairman), David Del Tredici, John Harbison, Fred Lerdahl, Tania Leon, Bernard Rands, Gunther Schuller, and Steven Stucky.

Written By

NewMusicBox Staff

The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced the eighteen recipients of this year’s awards in music, which total $190,000. The winners were selected by a committee of academy members: Ezra Laderman (chairman), David Del Tredici, John Harbison, Fred Lerdahl, Tania Leon, Bernard Rands, Gunther Schuller, and Steven Stucky.

The awards will be presented at the academy’s annual ceremonial in May. Candidates for music awards are nominated by the 250 members of the academy.

ARTS AND LETTERS AWARDS IN MUSIC

Four composers will each receive a $7500 Arts and Letters Award in Music, which honors outstanding artistic achievement and acknowledges the composer who has arrived at his or her own voice. Each will receive an additional $7500 toward the recording of one work. The winners are Paul Moravec, Frank Ticheli, Dan Welcher, and John Zorn.

WALTER HINRICHSEN AWARD

Reena Esmail will receive the Walter Hinrichsen Award for the publication of a work by a gifted composer. This award was established by the C. F. Peters Corporation, music publishers, in 1984.

ANDREW IMBRIE AWARD

Louis Karchin will receive the $10,000 Andrew Imbrie Award in Music. This award, being inaugurated this year, is given to a composer of demonstrated artistic merit, and is made possible through a gift from Andrew and Barbara Imbrie.

WLADIMIR AND RHODA LAKOND AWARD

The Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond award of $10,000 is given to a promising mid-career composer. This year the award will go to Christopher Theofanidis.

GODDARD LIEBERSON FELLOWSHIPS

Two Goddard Lieberson fellowships of $15,000, endowed in 1978 by the CBS Foundation, are given to mid-career composers of exceptional gifts. This year they will go to Edmund Campion and Huck Hodge.

CHARLES IVES FELLOWSHIPS

Harmony Ives, the widow of Charles Ives, bequeathed to the academy the royalties of Charles Ives’s music, which has enabled the academy to give the Ives awards in composition since 1970. Two Charles Ives Fellowships, of $15,000 each, will be awarded to Haralabos Stafylakis and Xi Wang.

CHARLES IVES SCHOLARSHIPS

Niccolo Athens, Sean Friar, David Hertzberg, Takuma Itoh, Wang Jie, and Chris Rogerson will receive Charles Ives Scholarships of $7500, given to composition students of great promise.

MARC BLITZSTEIN MEMORIAL AWARD FOR MUSICAL THEATER

Friends of the late academician Marc Blitzstein set up an award, now $5,000, in his memory to be given from time to time to a composer, lyricist, or librettist to encourage the creation of works of merit for musical theater and opera. Chosen by a specially selected committee, the composer John Kander will be awarded this prize.

(—condensed from the press release)