American Academy of Arts and Letters Names 2023 Music Award Winners

Totaling $195,000, the Academy’s music awards announced 16 winners, including Juilliard School dean David Ludwig

Founded in 1898, the American Academy of Arts and Letters is an honor society of the nation’s leading architects, artists, composers, and writers. Its Arts and Letters Awards in Music recognizes composers’ exceptional achievements and artistic voice. 

The four American composers for this prize include award-winning artist and audio producer Eve Beglarian; jazz flutist and University of Virginia professor Nicole Mitchell; jazz instrumentalist Roscoe Mitchell; and The Juilliard School’s dean and director of music, David Ludwig. 

They have been awarded a cash prize of $10,000 each, plus an additional $10,000 to go towards a recording of their work, which will be presented and performed in concert at the Academy.

Other music awards of the Academy include the Goddard Lieberson Fellowships, whose recipients are Andy Akiho and Zosha Di Castri, each receiving $15,000. This fellowship was endowed in 1978 by the CBS Foundation and is awarded to top mid-career composers. 

Established by the music publisher C. F. Peters in 1984, the Walter Hinrichsen Award in Music for the publication of a work by a gifted composer was given to Shih-Hui Chen. The $10,000 Andrew Imbrie Award in Music for a mid-career composer went to Robert Honstein.

Additionally, the Charles Ives Awards in Music awarded its $15,000 Fellowships to Charles Peck and Peter Shin. The Charles Ives Scholarships of $7,500 each went to Seare Farhat, Jordyn Gallinek, Luke Haaksma, Ali Can Puskulcu, Harriet Steinke, and Bethany Younge.

Chaired by Julia Wolfe, the selection committee included Annea Lockwood, David Sanford, Christopher Theofanidis, Augusta Read Thomas, Chinary Ung, and Melinda Wagner. The award ceremony will be held on May 24, 2023. 

The Academy comprises 300 members, who nominate candidates for its music awards. Its earliest members included Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and Edith Wharton. Aiming to develop and maintain interests in literature, music, and the fine Arts, the Academy has awarded more than 70 prizes, totaling over $1 million.