Elise Arancio (Composition '23) Awarded Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
The prize-winning composer and Curtis alumna has been awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship, one of 20 established and emerging composers receiving awards this year from the academy
Curtis congratulates prize-winning composer and recent Curtis alumna Elise Arancio (’23) on being awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Ms. Arancio is one of 20 established and emerging composers receiving awards totaling $465,000 this year from the academy. Founded in 1898, the academy is an honor society composed of the country’s preeminent architects, artists, composers, and writers.
Ms. Arancio is one of many notable figures throughout Curtis history to be honored with awards from the American Academy and Institute for Arts and Letters. These winners include composers such as Marc Blitzstein (’26); Samuel Barber (’34); Gian Carlo Menotti (’33); Vincent Persichetti (Conducting ’39); Lukas Foss (Conducting and Composition ’40, Piano ’42); longtime faculty member Ned Rorem (’44); George Walker (Composition and Piano ’45); Daron A. Hagen (’84); former faculty members Jennifer Higdon (’88), Jan Krzywicki, and David Serkin Ludwig (’01); and current faculty Steven Mackey and Amy Beth Kirsten.
Elise Arancio—a native of Tucker, Georgia—is a composer whose musical language is driven by conversation. Her music is often composed of animated dialogues between and within different instruments and mediums, with energy and impulse acting as central impetuses. A lover of words, much of her music draws inspiration from poetry and literature, and she is always playing with the sounds of objects around her. Some of her recent accolades include winning the 2022 Les Écoles D’Art Américaines de Fontainebleau Ravel Prize, the 2020 Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra’s Call for Scores, the 2019 NorCal Music Festival Orchestra Composition Competition, 2018 American Composer’s Forum NextNotes Composition Awards, and the 2016 and 2017 National Young Composers Challenge.
Learn more about Ms. Arancio on her website.
Read the official announcement HERE, and learn more about the American Academy of Arts and Letters HERE,
Photos of Elise Arancio courtesy of Nichole MCH Photography and the artist.