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The 2021 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music

Finalist: Data Lords, by Maria Schneider

Recording released on July 24, 2020 by the Maria Schneider Orchestra, an enveloping musical landscape of light and shadow, rendered by the many personalities of a large jazz ensemble, reflecting the promise of a digital paradise contrasted by a concentration of power and the loss of privacy.

Nominated Work

Data Lords

By

Maria Schneider

Preview of "Data Lords" (Maria Schneider Official Page)

Now it's finally here, in the form of a magnificent double album, Data Lords . . .  it parses into thematic halves, "The Digital World" and, as an antidote, "The Natural World." On the whole and in the details, it amounts to the most daring work of Schneider's career, which sets the bar imposingly high. This is music of extravagant mastery, and it comes imbued with a spirit of risk ...

– Nate Chinen, npr.com (read in entirety)

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Schneider’s craft and judgment are such that music in the eerie, dystopian world has the marvellous feeling for structure, pacing and often sheer beauty that listeners who know Schneider’s music will be expecting. . . .

There are instrumental glories throughout this album, but the work of the low brass both as section and as individuals is quite unbelievable and is caught exceptionally well on the recording. Whereas Wagner once said “don’t look at the trombones, it only encourages them", I had the sense that Maria Schneider must keep looking at the trombones a lot. And they certainly deliver here.

– Sebastian Scotney, TheArtsDesk.com (read in entirety)

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“Data Lords,” released on Friday, is her magnum opus, a riveting, remarkably intense double album, as profound as modern-day instrumental music gets.

– Jon Bream, Minneapolis Star Tribune (read in entirety)

-- from the composer's website

Biography

Maria Schneider’s music has been hailed by critics as “evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, imaginative, revelatory, riveting, daring, and beyond categorization.” Blurring the lines between genres, her varied commissioners stretch from Jazz at Lincoln Center, to The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, to the American Dance Festival, and include collaboration with David Bowie. She is among a small few to receive GRAMMYS in multiple genres, having received the award in jazz and classical, as well as for her work with David Bowie.

With her first recording, Evanescence (1994), Schneider began developing her personal way of writing for her 18-member collective made up of many of the finest musicians in jazz today, tailoring her compositions to the uniquely creative voices of the group. Unique funding of projects has become a hallmark for Schneider through the trend-setting company, ArtistShare. And, in 2004, Concert in the Garden became historic as the first recording to win a GRAMMY with Internet-only sales. Even more significantly, it blazed the "crowd-funding" trail as ArtistShare’s first release, and was eventually inducted into the 2019 National Recording Registry.

Schneider’s many honors also include: 14 GRAMMY-nominations, 5 GRAMMY Awards, numerous Jazz Journalists Association awards, DOWNBEAT and JAZZTIMES Critics and Readers Polls awards, an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, the University of Minnesota, ASCAP’s esteemed Concert Music Award (2014), the nation's highest honor in jazz, “NEA Jazz Master” (2019), and election into the 2020 American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A strong voice for music advocacy, Schneider has testified before the US Congressional Subcommittee on Intellectual Property on digital rights, participated in round-tables for the United States Copyright Office, and has written various white papers and articles on the digital economy as related to music and beyond. Her latest work, Data Lords, has largely been inspired by her immersion in these issues.

Winners

Prize Winner in Music in 2021:

Tania León

Premiered at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City on February 13, 2020, a musical journey full of surprise, with powerful brass and rhythmic motifs that incorporate Black music traditions from the US and the Caribbean into a Western orchestral fabric. Music

Finalists

Nominated as finalists in Music in 2021:

Ted Hearne

A brave and powerful work, marked by effective vocal writing and multiple musical genres, that confronts issues of gentrification and displacement in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Libretto by Hearne and Saul Williams.

The Jury

John V. Brown, Jr.(Chair)

Vice Provost, Arts, Duke University

Regina Carter

Jazz Violinist, Maywood, N.J.

Ellen Reid*

Composer/Sound Artist, New York City

John Schaefer

Host, "New Sounds," WNYC Radio

Christopher J. Washburne

Composer/Trombonist; Professor of Music, Columbia University

Winners in Music

2020

Anthony Davis

Premiered on June 15, 2019 at the Long Beach Opera, a courageous operatic work, marked by powerful vocal writing and sensitive orchestration, that skillfully transforms a notorious example of contemporary injustice into something empathetic and hopeful. Libretto by Richard Wesley.
2019

Ellen Reid

A bold new operatic work that uses sophisticated vocal writing and striking instrumental timbres to confront difficult subject matter: the effects of sexual and emotional abuse. Libretto by Roxie Perkins. Prism was commissioned and produced by Beth Morrison Projects in association with Trinity Wall Street, presented in a rolling world premiere with LA Opera and the PROTOTYPE Festival.
2018

Kendrick Lamar

Recording released on April 14, 2017, a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.

2017

Du Yun

Premiered on January 6, 2016, at the Prototype Festival, 3LD Arts and Technology Center, New York City, a bold operatic work that integrates vocal and instrumental elements and a wide range of styles into a harrowing allegory for human trafficking in the modern world. Libretto by Royce Vavrek.
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2021 Prize Winners

See All 2021 Winners