BLOOMINGTON – Once again, faculty and alumni from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music have received numerous Grammy Award nominations.
Faculty nominees include the members of the Grammy-winning Pacifica Quartet, the school’s quartet-in-residence, and trombone professor Denson Paul Pollard, also a Grammy-winning member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
The Pacifica’s “American Stories” release, with clarinetist Anthony McGill, competes for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. At the same time, the Met Opera Orchestra performs on Terrence Blanchard’s “Champion,” vying for Best Opera Recording.
Audio-engineering alumna Laura Sisk continues her blizzard of nominations and wins throughout her young career. This year, she is up for Record of the Year for Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” and, remarkably, three Album of the Year nominations, including Swift’s “Midnights” (also nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album), Jon Batiste’s “World Music Radio” and Lana Del Rey’s “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.”
Another Grammy-winning alum, bassist Edgar Meyer, contends for three of the coveted statuettes this year, including “As We Speak,” with Béla Fleck and Zakir Hussain, featuring Rakesh Chaurasia, for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, “Pashto” from “As We Speak” for Best Global Music Performance and “Motion” from the same album for Best Instrumental Composition.
Alumnus tenor Lawrence Brownlee teamed with pianist Kevin Miller for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album candidate “Rising.” At the same time, recent guitar graduate Alex Goldblatt appears as a guitarist and songwriter on 6LACK’s “Since I Have a Lover,” a Best Progressive R&B Album contender.
“Aquamarine,” the second new age release from harp alumna Kirsten Agresta-Copely, is nominated for Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album.
While not directly nominated, two of alum Alex Berko’s compositions are featured on “The House of Belonging” by Conspirare and the Miró Quartet, and one of his works is on “Carols After a Plague” by The Crossing, both albums vying in the Best Choral Performance category.
Similarly, although not nominated herself, faculty member Hsuan Chang Kitano is the producer, music director, and harpsichordist on Ensemble Cadenza 21’s “Cadenza 21’,” which is competing for Best Recording Package, with art director Hsing-Hui Cheng.
The Recording Academy will present the 66th Grammy Awards live from Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
Offering more than 1,100 performances annually, including five operas, three ballets, and a musical, the IU Jacobs School of Music plays a leading role in educating performers, scholars, composers, music educators, and audio engineers around the globe. Its 170-plus full-time faculty members include performers, scholars, and internationally renowned teachers.
Information: Linda Cajigas, Writing/Editing Specialist, IU Jacobs School of Music.
