The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced today the 18 recipients of this year’s awards in music, which total $205,000. Among these winners are Paul Novak and Kari Watson, two PhD students in Composition. Both Novak and Watson were awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship, an award of $7,500 each.
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.
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.
Learn about all of the 2022 Music Awards Winners on the American Academy of Arts and Letters website.