Composer Chris Rogerson Wins 2023 Elise L. Stoeger Prize

Awarded by Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society, the accolade also includes a $25,000 cash prize

The Elise L. Stoeger Prize is awarded biennially by Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society (CMS) in recognition of significant contributions to the field of chamber music composition.

As this year’s winner, Chris Rogerson’s 2020 work Afterword for Two Violins and Piano will be performed as part of CMS’s new-music series, “Sonic Spectrum,” on January 18, 2024.

Rogerson has written works for artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Marie McDermott, and VC Artist Dover Quartet. Having visited 90 countries, his work often reflects his travel experiences. 

Born in 1988, Rogerson studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, Yale School of Music, and Princeton University with Jennifer Higdon, Aaron Jay Kernis, Martin Bresnick, and Steve Mackey. Based in Philadelphia, he is on the Musical Studies Faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music and is one of two composers on the roster of Manhattan Chamber Players. 

Addtionally, he is co-founder and co-artistic director of Kettle Corn New Music and is represented by Young Concert Artists, Inc., where he served as Composer-in-Residence from 2010-12. 

His recent commissions and performances have come from the Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, New Jersey, New World, and San Francisco symphonies, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. 

“We are personally delighted that this year’s Stoeger jury has selected Chris Rogerson as the 2022 recipient of the prize,” said CMS artistic directors Wu Han and David Finckel. “Chris’s music embodies all that we look for in the works of today’s chamber music composers: genuine inspiration; knowledgeable and skillful instrumental writing; a combination of immediate appeal and intriguing challenge which invites further hearings; and very importantly, a true sense of the very nature of chamber music as an art form of dialogue between equals. 

“In addition, Chris has proven to be very much a ‘performer’s composer’ in that so many fine players have asked for works from him,” they added. “Their advocacy and passion, combined with new music of real quality, is what truly drives our art form forward.”

“I am truly honored…Many of the past winners of this award are my musical heroes (and former teachers!) and I am so moved to be included among them,” said Rogerson. “In many ways I have poured much of my musical energy into chamber music, and to have CMS, an organization I so deeply respect and admire, recognize me in this way is beyond meaningful—and it motivates me to continue to create.”