Become Ocean, a Seattle Symphony commission inspired by the stunning waters of the Pacific Northwest.
For distinguished musical composition by an American that has had its first performance or recording in the United States during the year, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
Become Ocean, by John Luther Adams (Taiga Press/Theodore Front Musical Literature)
A haunting orchestral work that suggests a relentless tidal surge, evoking thoughts of melting polar ice and rising sea levels.
Lee C. Bollinger, President of Columbia University (left), presents the 2014 Music Prize to John Luther Adams.
Winning Work
Become Ocean
Biography
John Luther Adams has been called “one of the most original musical thinkers of the new century” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker).
Adams composes for orchestra, chamber ensembles, percussion and electronic media. His music is recorded on Cantaloupe, Cold Blue, New World, Mode and New Albion. Inuksuit, for up to 99 percussionists, is regularly performed all over the world.
About his work, Adams writes: "As a composer it’s my belief that music can contribute to the awakening of our ecological understanding. By deepening our awareness of our connections to the earth, music can provide a sounding model for the renewal of human consciousness and culture."
A recipient of the Heinz Award for his contributions to raising environmental awareness, Adams has also received the Nemmers Prize from Northwestern University, the Distinguished Artist Award from the Rasmuson Foundation, and fellowships from United States Artists, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
Adams is the author of the book Winter Music (Wesleyan 2004). His sound and light environment The Place Where You Go to Listen at the University of Alaska Museum of the North is the subject of his second book (Wesleyan 2009). The Farthest Place is a collection of essays about his music, written by prominent musicians and scholars (University Press of New England 2011).
Adams has taught at Harvard University, the Oberlin Conservatory, Bennington College and the University of Alaska. He has been composer in residence with the Anchorage Symphony, Anchorage Opera, Fairbanks Symphony, Arctic Chamber Orchestra, and the Alaska Public Radio Network, and has served as president of the American Music Center.
Born in 1953, Adams grew up in the southeastern U.S. and in the suburbs of New York City. He studied composition with James Tenney and Leonard Stein at the California Institute of the Arts, where he was in the first graduating class (BFA 1973). In the mid 1970s he became active in the campaign for the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and subsequently served as executive director of the Northern Alaska Environmental Center.
Finalists
Nominated as finalists in Music in 2014:
Christopher Cerrone
A captivating opera based on a novel by Italo Calvino in which Marco Polo regales Kublai Khan with tales of fantastical cities, adapted into an imaginary sonic landscape.
John Adams
A monumental oratorio about the final period of Christ's life that is marked by impassioned music – sometimes forceful, sometimes lyrical – and an ingenious variety of evocative sounds.
The Jury
The Jury
Ara Guzelimian(Chair )
provost and dean
Justin Davidson*
classical music and architecture critic
Jason Moran
pianist and composer
Caroline Shaw*
musician
Julia Wolfe*
composer and co-founder
Winners in Music
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).
Jennifer Higdon
Premiered on February 6, 2009, in Indianapolis, IN, a deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity (Lawdon Press).
2014 Prize Winners
Donna Tartt
A beautifully written coming-of-age novel with exquisitely drawn characters that follows a grieving boy's entanglement with a small famous painting that has eluded destruction, a book that stimulates the mind and touches the heart.
Annie Baker
A thoughtful drama with well-crafted characters that focuses on three employees of a Massachusetts art-house movie theater, rendering lives rarely seen on the stage.
Alan Taylor
A meticulous and insightful account of why runaway slaves in the colonial era were drawn to the British side as potential liberators.
Megan Marshall
A richly researched book that tells the remarkable story of a 19th century author, journalist, critic and pioneering advocate of women's rights who died in a shipwreck.