Email This PageJames Matheson ’92
James Matheson ’92, a composer currently serving as director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Composer Fellowship Program, won the Charles Ives Living Award, sponsored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, in December. According to an Academy news release, the purpose of the Ives Award, which provides a $200,000 grant over a two-year period, is “to free a promising American composer from the need to devote his or her time to any employment other than music composition.” Matheson’s compositions have been performed by the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics and the Chicago and Albany Symphony orchestras, among many others. Selection Committee Member Martin Bresnick says, “James Matheson is a composer of significant accomplishment and ever greater imaginative potential. He is an ideal Ives Living winner—independent, industrious, and poised for a major contribution to American music.”
The world premiere of Matheson’s newest piece, co-commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, featured second violinist Baird Dodge ’90 in his first solo appearance with the orchestra. Matheson expressly composed the piece for Dodge, his former roommate and friend.
