Cambodian folk melodies and Western composition techniques are masterfully fused in Chinary Ung’s “Inner Voices,” winner of the 1989 award. The work, commissioned by the Pennsylvania Arts Council for the Philadelphia Orchestra, premiered in 1986. One music critic who attended the performance called the composition “lavishly colored, and wholly understandable in terms of contemporary American […]
“The Mask of Orpheus,” a modern opera by British composer Harrison Birtwistle, has won the 1987 award. The four-hour opera features masked singers, mimes and electronic music. It was selected from 95 pieces submitted by conductors, critics, publishers and music schools in 20 countries. Birtwistle, 53, was to be notified by telephone today about the […]
A 62-year-old composer who lives in Austria has won the second University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. Gyorgy Ligeti, who was born in Hungary and now makes his home in Vienna, received the prize for his “Etudes for Piano,” a set of six short works. None of the pieces are longer than 3 […]
Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski has captured the first University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. Lutoslawski, 72, won the award for his Symphony No. 3, which was given its world premiere by Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sept. 29, 1983. He will receive $150,000, to be paid in five annual installments […]