FY17 Individual Artist Fellow Releases Chart-Topping CD
By Suzanne Lynch, Director of Marketing and Development –
As a recipient of an FY2017 Individual Artist Fellowship, Michael Kurek applied his award money toward the production of an album of his classical music compositions, which was released by Parma Recordings on July 14, 2017, on a CD titled The Sea Knows. The record has been at the No. 1 position on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart for the past two weeks. The title track, The Sea Knows is a one-movement concerto for cello and string orchestra. It is titled after a poem by the composer about the sea as a means of self-discovery (see video above.)
Kurek is an American composer whose work has been hailed for its lush neo-romanticism, and who has garnered performances in fifteen countries on five continents. His many awards for music include the prestigious Academy Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Academy’s top lifetime achievement award in composition. He has served on the Classical Nominations Committee for the Grammy Awards. He holds the doctorate in composition from the University of Michigan and serves on the faculty of Vanderbilt University.
About the Individual Artist Fellowship
Individual Artist Fellowships provide monetary awards to outstanding professional artists, i.e. those individuals who by education, experience, or natural talent engage in a particular art form or discipline, and live and work in Tennessee. To qualify, an artist must be financially compensated for his or her work, and this compensation must be a significant source of support for their livelihood. Applications for FY2018 will open in the fall of 2017.
