2024 COPLAND HOUSE RESIDENCY AWARDS - Westfair Communications

The nine composers selected from nine states are from left, top row: Matt Browne, 35, Loveland, Colorado; Christopher Cerrone, 39, New Jersey; and Shih-Hui Chen, 61, Texas; (middle row) Brent Michael Davids, 64, Wisconsin; Tyson Gholston Davis, 23, New York; and Kevin Day, 27, California; and (bottom row) Eun Young Lee; 56, Maine; Pamela Madsen, 66, California; and Ania Vu, 29, Illinois. Browne was a 2017 CULTIVATE Emerging Composer Fellow, and Vu’s 2023 Residency has been scheduled for this season for logistical reasons.

Recipients of the 2024 Copland House Residency Awards, one of the flagship programs of the acclaimed creative center for American music and the arts based at Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home in Cortlandt Manor near New York City and its vast new satellite venue at Bluestone Farm on the New York-Connecticut border, were recently announced.

The 2024 Residents were chosen from 215 applicants from 37 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and five countries by this year’s jury, which included Eric Chasalow, Chen Yi, Pierre Jalbert, Shawn Okpebholo, Dalit Warshaw, and Zhou Long. In addition to all-expenses-paid, three- to eight-week stays at Rock Hill, Copland’s beloved longtime home – which Warshaw, a 2023 Resident, called “a true gift” – the nine selected composers become eligible for various post-residency performance, recording, commissioning and other career advancement opportunities and awards.

“Innovation, imagination and illumination are just three words that come to mind in thinking about these nine remarkable composers,” said Artistic and Executive Director Michael Boriskin. “Their work spans generations and genres, and draws inspiration from identity and ancestry, Indigenous culture and history, the environment, visual and literary arts, ancestral roots and heritage, and so much more. We can’t wait to hear the music that emerges from their stays here.”

Reflecting on her recent Residency at Rock Hill, Warshaw said, “I can’t begin to express how profound an experience I had. I felt that I was engaging with The Source: being nurtured, not only by the space, books, things, energy, but receiving a ‘reset’ of sorts – a reaffirmation of musical values, as I connected with Copland’s music and writings in a far deeper way.”

Since it was inaugurated in 1998, Copland House has championed and collaborated with musical explorers, dreamers and game-changing innovators of all backgrounds and identities. The only composer’s home in the U.S. devoted to nurturing and renewing America’s vibrant musical legacy through a broad range of activities, Copland House programs uniquely embrace the entire artistic process, from creation and development to study, performance and preservation. Praised by “The New York Times” for “all the richness of its offerings,” Copland House’s activities resonate far beyond its walls and are built upon multifaceted composer support, live and recorded performances and educational and community engagement. Core support for Copland House’s Residency Awards comes from the Amphion Foundation, ArtsWestchester, ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Friends of Copland House, David and Elzbieta Grove Foundation, Jandon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, NewMusicUSA, and the New York State Council on the Arts.