Shepherd School composer Al-Zand honored by American Academy of Arts and Letters

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Rice University’s Karim Al-Zand is one of four composers chosen by the American Academy of Arts and Letters to receive a 2011 Arts and Letters Academy Award in Music.

The award honors outstanding artistic achievement and acknowledges composers who have arrived at their own voice. The academy’s 250 members nominated candidates for the awards, which will be presented at a ceremony in May.

	KARIM AL-ZAND

Al-Zand, associate professor of composition and theory at Rice’s Shepherd School of Music, will receive $7,500 as part of the award, and another $7,500 toward the recording of one of his works.

“The Arts and Letters Award is among the most prestigious a composer can receive,” said Robert Yekovich, dean of the music school. “In receiving this recognition from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Karim Al-Zand, has brought great distinction to himself, the Shepherd School and the entire university.”

The academy noted that Al-Zand’s compositions are ”wide-ranging, from settings of classical Arabic poetry to scores for dance and pieces for young audiences. His works explore connections between music and other arts and draw inspiration from diverse sources such as 19th century graphic art, fables of the world, folksong and jazz. The themes of many of his pieces speak to his middle-eastern heritage as well.”

His music has been performed by such groups as the American Modern Ensemble, California E.A.R. Unit, New Millennium Ensemble, Mendelssohn String Quartet, New England Conservatory Camerata and OrchestraX.

”Composing is a fairly solitary enterprise, and you don’t count on this sort of national recognition, but if it happens it’s very gratifying,” Al-Zand said. ”It’s also especially meaningful to me since the acknowledgment comes from the academy members themselves, who are the luminaries in our field, and people who have in many cases been musical influences for me.”

Al-Zand said he hasn’t decided what to pursue with the recording grant.

”Recording is expensive and funding is scarce, so this opportunity to complete a significant project is really very valuable for me. Any composer will tell you that a big challenge is getting wide dissemination of their music, and recording can be a big part of that.”

In addition to Al-Zand, Arts and Letters Award honorees include David Dzubay at Indiana University, Steven Mackey at Princeton University and Lewis Spratlan, winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in Music.

”I feel tremendously honored and very privileged, given the company I’m in,” said Al-Zand, a Canadian-American. ”The other three awards went to wonderful composers whose music I’ve always admired.”

Al-Zand has received several other national awards, including the Sackler Composition Prize, the ArtSong Prize and the Louisville Orchestra Competition Prize.

Al-Zand joined the Shepherd School faculty in 2002 and is a founding member of Musiqa, Houston’s premiere contemporary music group, which presents concerts featuring new and classic repertoire of the 20th and 21st centuries.

He has a bachelor’s degree in music theory and composition from McGill University and a Ph.D. in the same fields from Harvard.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1989 to ”foster, assist and sustain an interest in literature, music and the fine arts.” Each year the academy honors more than 50 composers, artists, architects and writers with cash awards.