Faculty composer Christopher Theofanidis elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters

Yale School of Music faculty composer Christopher Theofanidis has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the organization announced on March 3. Theofanidis and 17 other newly elected artists will be formally inducted in May. “New members were elected by vote of the existing membership,” the Academy’s news release explains. “The honor of election is considered the highest form of recognition of artistic merit in the United States.”

Theofanidis has served on the School of Music faculty since 2008 and earned his master-of-musical-arts and doctor-of-musical-arts degrees from the School in 1994 and 1997, respectively. Theofanidis has earned the top award at the Masterprize International Composing Competition, the prestigious Rome Prize, and Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships, among other honors. His music has been commissioned and performed by celebrated ensembles around the world. In addition to his work at Yale, Theofanidis is the composer-in-residence at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he co-directs the composition program.

Other composers elected to the Academy this year are John Luther Adams, Jennifer Higdon, Annea Lockwood, and David Sanford. Read the Academy’s news release here and learn more about Christopher Theofanidis here.