NEWS RELEASE December 6, 2006
New York Contact Virginia Dajani
(212) 368-5900
COMPOSER GEORGE TSONTAKIS WINS PRESTIGIOUS CHARLES IVES AWARD
New York – George Tsontakis has been chosen to receive the Charles Ives Living, which gives a talented composer an income of $75,000 a year for a period of three years, for a total of $225,000. The announcement was made by Ezra Laderman, president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
George Tsontakis, Distinguished Faculty Composer-in-Residence at Bard College, will begin the three-year term in July 2007. Although the Charles Ives Living winner agrees to forgo all salaried employment during the award period, there is no restriction on accepting composing commissions. In accepting the award, George Tsontakis said, “I felt a complex mixture of emotions, a bit giddy with exhilaration, yet at almost the same moment a realization that there was a message attached to the gesture, in that a serious rededication to my work was beckoning. I am excited, and very grateful to the Academy for this wonderful gift to my music, as well as moved by my colleagues for their vote of confidence in my work. The Ives Living will impact not only the next three years but the rest of my life; I only hope that I might be able to live up to its message.”
Mr. Laderman, also a composer, said, “The selection of George Tsontakis follows in the Ives Living tradition which identifies a composer of enormous talent who is on the threshold of becoming a household name. What I’ve always admired about him is that he idealizes Beethoven in his music; in every work he includes a quote from a Beethoven work, such as the Egmont Overture or the Fifth Symphony. His music is both intellectually demanding and highly accessible, a rare and wonderful combination if you can pull it off. George does.”
David Del Tredici, a member of the selection committee, said, “George Tsontakis’s music is full of heart, a quality that erases boundaries as it satisfies and enriches the soul.”
The purpose of the Ives Living is to free a promising American composer from the need to devote his or her time to any employment other than music composition. It is the Academy’s intent to provide through this award an income sufficient to ensure that freedom for a period of three years.
The Charles Ives Living was inaugurated in 1998 with the selection of Martin Bresnick. Chen Yi became the second winner, in 2001, and Stephen Hartke was chosen in 2004; his three-year term ends in June 2007. George Tsontakis becomes the fourth winner of the Charles Ives Living.
Selection Process
William Bolcom, chairman of the selection committee, and the other committee members – T. J. Anderson, Robert Beaser, David Del Tredici, and Joseph Schwantner, studied scores and recordings over a six-month period to arrive at their choice of George Tsontakis. William Bolcom said, “There are a slew of awards for young composers. There aren’t nearly enough for composers who have gained a solid reputation, who are in mid-career and sorely in need of more time to compose. For the last thousand years, only a handful of composers have actually made a living from their craft. For someone like George Tsontakis, the Charles Ives Living affords precious and well-deserved time to create. It is a great boon to him and potentially to American music.”
Nominations for the Academy’s awards come from the 250 members of the Academy – painters, sculptors, architects, writers, and composers; no other nominations or applications are accepted, with the exception of the Richard Rodgers Awards for Musical Theater. Academy members are not eligible to receive monetary awards.
Other Charles Ives Awards
Harmony Ives, the widow of Charles Ives, left to the Academy the royalties from her husband’s music to establish a fund for prizes in music composition. Since 1970 the Academy has given 200 Ives scholarships, and since 1983, 32 Ives fellowships. These awards continue to be given annually.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters, chartered by Congress, was established in 1898 to “foster, assist, and sustain an interest in literature, music, and the fine arts.” Founding members included William Merritt Chase, Kenyon Cox, Daniel Chester French, Childe Hassam, Henry James, Edward MacDowell, Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Vedder, and Woodrow Wilson. Each year the Academy gives away just under $1 million in awards to artists, architects, writers, and composers. It presents exhibitions of art, architecture, and manuscripts, and subsidizes readings and performances of new musicals. The 108-year-old organization is located in landmark buildings designed by McKim, Mead & White, and by Cass Gilbert, on Audubon Terrace at 155th Street and Broadway, New York City.