Tania Leon Give It Your All and Then Tomorrow Do It Again
The Brooklyn College Distinguished Professor Emeritus is Recognized for 'Pace,' A Work Marking 100th Ceremony of Women'south Suffrage That Puts Variety at Center Stage
She is One of Numerous CUNY Educators who Have Received the Highest Accolades for Their Music
Renowned composer, conductor and educator Tania León, a distinguished professor emeritus at Brooklyn College who taught there for nearly 35 years, was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music last Friday for her diverse rhythmic and brass orchestral work titled "Footstep." The piece was commissioned as part of the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Heart's Projection nineteen, marking the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage.
León, who left Cuba in 1967 as a immature refugee in her 20s, served as director of music composition at CUNY's Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College. She taught at the college from 1985 until her retirement in 2019. She was also a founding member and music manager of Arthur Mitchell's historic Dance Theater of Harlem.
"Tania León has made it her life's piece of work to create and encourage profound, striking music that, significantly, places variety at eye stage," saidChancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez."Our heartfelt congratulations to Professor León, whose dedication to what she calls 'the canvas of sounds in the Americas' was vividly captured in her Pulitzer-winning slice, commissioned in celebration of women'southward voting rights, every bit information technology incorporates Black music traditions from the Usa and the Caribbean."
"Every bit a professor and managing director of music composition in Brooklyn College'due south Conservatory of Music, Tania León helped nurture our talented students for decades and has left an extraordinary musical legacy on our campus,"said Brooklyn College President Michelle J. Anderson. "Nosotros are proud that the world is now celebrating her incredible composition, 'Pace,' a timely salute to the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage. On behalf of the Brooklyn College extended family, I congratulate Professor León on this tremendous achievement."
León is ane of numerous CUNY educators, pedagogy in programs throughout the university, who have over the years received the highest accolades for their music. Likewise in 2021, Queens College Aaron Copland School of Music kinesthesia fellow member Eric Davis and music school alumni Arturo O'Farrill and JoAnn Falletta were winners at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. Davis shared in the honors for Best Musical Theater Album, O'Farrill for All-time Latin Jazz Album and Falletta as a usher for Best Choral Performance.
"Everything that happens big for me brings me back to my initial times and the fact that my family, even with little ways, did everything possible for me," said León, who cried when she found out well-nigh her award on June 11 after a colleague congratulated her. "Information technology'south a big recognition from my colleagues and something I will cherish. I promise that my sounds can contribute to the sheet of sounds in the Americas."
Her Pulitzer-winning work "Stride," was included in a multi-flavour Philharmonic initiative, featuring xix composers — the largest women-only committee in history. The Pulitzer committee described "Footstep," equally a musical journeying full of surprise, with powerful brass and rhythmic motifs …" adding that it incorporated diverse traditions into a "Western orchestral textile." The Pulitzer Prize for music is awarded for a limerick by an American for its first U.s. performance or recording. León will receive $15,000 for the award.
Among León's many endeavors is her work from 1994 to 2001 as Latin American music adviser for the American Composers Orchestra, where she co-founded the groundbreaking Sonidos de las Américas festivals in response to the increasing importance of Latin America in the cultural life of the United States – and to encourage orchestras and ensembles here to augment their repertoire to reverberate this development,
She is currently the vice president of the American Academy of Arts and Messages' Music Sectionalisation, the founder and artistic director of Composers Now, and she sits on the board of directors for the MacDowell Colony and the New York Combo.
The Urban center Academy of New York is the nation's largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation's first free public institution of higher teaching, CUNY today has seven community colleges, eleven senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City's five boroughs, serving 500,000 students of all ages and awarding 55,000 degrees each year. CUNY's mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times every bit many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than than 80 percent of the University'southward graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the urban center's economical, borough and cultural life and diversifying the city'south workforce in every sector. CUNY's graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur "Genius" Grants. The Academy's historic mission continues to this twenty-four hours: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background.
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Source: https://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2021/06/16/cuny-salutes-tania-leon-for-her-richly-deserved-2021-pulitzer-prize-in-music/
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