Violinist and Producer Johnny Gandelsman Receives MacArthur Fellowship

Gandelsman is the only musician in the 2024 cohort and receives a fellowship valued at $800,000

Violinist and producer Johnny Gandelsman has been named as the only musician to receive a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2024. Valued at $800,000, the MacArthur Fellowship recognizes Gandelsman's "exceptional creativity" and his work in "reimagining classical works and nurturing the creation of new music across styles and genres."

The Fellows are initially selected by invited external nominators, and their nominations are then considered by an independent Selection Committee — which is composed of a rotating roster of leaders in the arts, sciences, and humanities professions. Artists cannot nominate themselves, nor are unsolicited nominations considered.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Gandelsman is a violinist, recording artist, and producer. Between 2002 and 2020 he was a member of the Silk Road Ensemble and is a founding member of the string quartet Brooklyn Rider.

Gandelsman has worked closely with some of the best musicians of our time, including Béla Fleck, Martin Hayes, Kayhan Kalhor, Yo-Yo Ma, Mark Morris, Anne Sofie von Otter, Alim Qasimov and Fargana Qasimova, Joshua Redman, Suzanne Vega, Abigail Washburn, and Damian Woetzel.

Gandelsman's disc of the complete Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Chart and was featured on "best of the year" lists in New York Magazine and The New York Times.

During the pandemic, Gandelsman worked on a large-scale project titled This is America. Collaborating with a number of presenters, he invited 22 American composers to write works reflecting on the various kinds of disruption and disconnection they were experiencing, including lockdown restrictions, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the wildfires in California.

This is America now contains 28 works and Gandelsman has performed the project across North America.

You can hear Gandelsman speak about his work below.