New York, February 15, 2022—The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced today the 18 recipients of this year’s awards in music, which total $205,000. The winners were selected by a committee of Academy members: Chen Yi (chair), John Corigliano, Stephen Hartke, George Lewis, Augusta Read Thomas, Chinary Ung, and Julia Wolfe. The awards will be presented at the Academy’s Ceremonial on May 18, 2022. Candidates for music awards are nominated by the 300 members of the Academy.
Arts and Letters Awards in Music
MARCOS BALTER
ERIN GEE
JAMES MOBBERLEY
AARON TRAVERS
Four composers will receive $10,000 Arts and Letters Awards in Music, which honor outstanding artistic achievement and acknowledge composers who have arrived at their own voice. They will each receive an additional $10,000 to record their work and will also have their music presented in a concert at the Academy.
Walter Hinrichsen Award in Music
ORLANDO JACINTO GARCÍA
This award was established by the C. F. Peters Corporation, music publishers, in 1984, and is given for the publication of a work by a gifted composer.
Andrew Imbrie Award in Music
MIKE HOLOBER
The Andrew Imbrie Award of $10,000 is given to a composer of demonstrated artistic merit in mid-career.
Charles Ives Awards in Music
Charles Ives Fellowships
LEILA ADU-GILMORE
SUNGJI HONG
Charles Ives Scholarships
BRITTANY GREEN
MARCO JIMENEZ
PAUL NOVAK
NICOLE RUSSELL
MICHAEL SELTENREICH
KARI WATSON
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 awards in composition since 1970. Two Charles Ives Fellowships of $15,000 each and six Charles Ives Scholarships of $7,500 each will be awarded.
Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond Award in Music
KATHERINE BALCH
This $10,000 prize in music composition was established through a bequest from Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond.
Goddard Lieberson Fellowships in Music
MICHAEL GILBERTSON
ERIC NATHAN
Two Goddard Lieberson Fellowships of $15,000 each, endowed in 1978 by the CBS Foundation, are given to mid-career composers of exceptional gifts.
Virgil Thomson Award in Vocal in Music
JUSTIN DELLO JOIO
This $40,000 biennial award honors an American composer of vocal works.
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS
The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers, and writers. Early members include William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Julia Ward Howe, Henry James, Edward MacDowell, Theodore Roosevelt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John Singer Sargent, Mark Twain, and Edith Wharton. The Academy’s 300 members are elected for life and pay no dues.
In addition to electing new members as vacancies occur, the Academy seeks to foster and sustain an interest in Literature, Music, and the Fine Arts by administering over 70 awards and prizes totaling more than $1 million, exhibiting art and manuscripts, funding performances of new works of musical theater, purchasing artwork for donation to museums across the country, and presenting talks and concerts.
Leila Adu-Gilmore, photography by Rodrigo Vazquez; Marcos Balter, photograph by Heidi Solander; Erin Gee, photograph by Jonah Sutherland; Michael Gilbertson, photograph by Christina Simpson; Orlando Jacinto García, photograph by Jacek Kolasinski; James Mobberley, photograph by David Dice Photography/Liberty, Missouri; Eric Nathan, photograph by Luyuan Nathan; Paul Novak, photograph by Emma Foster; Kari Watson, photograph by Paige Critcher.