“This year’s five Avery Fisher Career Grantees include a saxophonist and a percussionist—the first of either among the 166 recipients in the long tradition of the award,” writes Susan Elliott in Tuesday’s (3/22) Musical America (subscription required). The winners are saxophonist Steven Banks, marimba/percussionist Ji Su Jung, violinist Randall Goosby, pianist Mackenzie Melemed, and cellist Jonathan Swensen. “The Career Grants of $25,000 each are specifically for career advancement, although several of these artists are already comfortably launched [including] Banks, one of the three Young Concert Artists Award winners among the Fisher’s five…. At last summer’s Colorado Music Festival … Ji Su Jung … dazzled audiences with her virtuoso performance of Kevin Puts’s rarely heard Marimba Concerto…. Goosby… has an international career … and an exclusive contract with Decca Classics [and] has played with the major orchestras of Los Angeles, London, New York, Cleveland, Detroit, and Baltimore…. Melemed … counts among his credits … the Philadelphia Orchestra [and has] made several recordings…. Swensen … a native of Copenhagen … has performed with his city’s … Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, and others.”
Change font size
