Finalist: Xiaoxiang , by Lei Liang (Schott Music Corporation )
A concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra, inspired by a widow's wail and blending the curious sensations of grief and exhilaration.
Winners
Prize Winner in Music in 2015:
Julia Wolfe
A powerful oratorio for chorus and sextet evoking Pennsylvania coal-mining life around the turn of the 20th Century.
Music
Finalists
Nominated as finalists in Music in 2015:
John Zorn
A parade of stylistically diverse sounds for violin, cello and piano that create a vivid demonstration of the brain in fluid, unpredictable action.
The Jury
The Jury
Carol Oja(Chair )
William Powell Mason Professor of Music
Steven Mackey
composer, professor and chair, department of music
Maria Schneider
composer and orchestra leader
Mark Swed
music critic
Winners in Music
John Luther Adams
A haunting orchestral work that suggests a relentless tidal surge, evoking thoughts of melting polar ice and rising sea levels.
Caroline Shaw
A highly polished and inventive a cappella work uniquely embracing speech, whispers, sighs, murmurs, wordless melodies and novel vocal effects (New Amsterdam Records).
Kevin Puts
A stirring opera that recounts the true story of a spontaneous cease-fire among Scottish, French and Germans during World War I, displaying versatility of style and cutting straight to the heart. Libretto by Mark Campbell (Aperto Press).
Zhou Long
Premiered on February 26, 2010 by Opera Boston at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, a deeply expressive opera that draws on a Chinese folk tale to blend the musical traditions of the East and the West. Libretto by Cerise Lim Jacobs (Oxford University Press).
2015 Prize Winners
Anthony Doerr
An imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short, elegant chapters that explore human nature and the contradictory power of technology.
Julia Wolfe
A powerful oratorio for chorus and sextet evoking Pennsylvania coal-mining life around the turn of the 20th Century.
Stephen Adly Guirgis
A nuanced, beautifully written play about a retired police officer faced with eviction that uses dark comedy to confront questions of life and death.
David I. Kertzer
An engrossing dual biography that uses recently opened Vatican archives to shed light on two men who exercised nearly absolute power over their realms.