Last modified: Wednesday, December 7, 2011
IU Jacobs School of Music faculty and alumni among Grammy contenders
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 7, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music remains prominent on the nominee list for the annual Grammy Awards, to be presented live Feb. 12 on CBS by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, three-time Grammy-Award winner and IU alumnus Booker T. Jones is once again nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Album -- this time, for "The Road From Memphis." His "Potato Hole" release won the same category in 2010.
Several Jacobs faculty members and alumni are featured on "The Vanishing Nordic Chorale" by Musik Ekklesia -- directed by Philip Spray -- which sees its producer, Peter Rutenberg, up for Classical Producer of the Year. The recording assembled some of the finest early music specialists in North America, many with ties to the Jacobs School of Music's Early Music Institute.
Faculty participants include leader and violinist Stanley Ritchie, viola da gambist Wendy Gillespie and flutist Barbara Kallaur. Alumni contributors from the Early Music Institute include Andrew Fouts, Jennifer Roig-Francoli, Brandi Berry, Allison Edberg, Joanna Blendulf, Christine Kyprianides, Annalisa Pappano, David Walker, Kathryn Montoya, Anne Timberlake, Thomas Carroll, Keith Collins, Kelsey Schilling and Thomas Gerber.
Alumni from the Jacobs School Jazz Department also made a strong showing, led by trumpeter Randy Brecker, with three nominations for the statuette: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for "The Jazz Ballad Song Book" with DR Big Band, and Best Improvised Jazz Solo for "All or Nothing at All" and Best Instrumental Composition for "I Talk to the Trees," both from that same album.
The recording "40 Acres and a Burro" by Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra -- featuring alumni David Bixler, arranger, and Heather Martin Bixler, violin -- also competes for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.
Violinist Sara Caswell backs Roseanna Vitro on "The Music of Randy Newman," which vies for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 54th iteration of the Grammy ceremonies.
Alumna Vivica Genaux contributed her mezzo-soprano skills on "Vivaldi: Ercole Sul Termodonte," conducted by Fabio Biondi, which contends for Best Opera Recording.
For more information about the Jacobs School of Music, visit www.music.indiana.edu.
