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A conversation between Kennedy Center Honoree Tania León and President Michelle J. Anderson, entitled “You Gave Me Wings: A Rhythmic Life.”
March 28, 2024
The evening featured a conversation between Brooklyn College President Michelle J. Anderson and composer, conductor, and educator Tania León. The two discussed León’s extraordinary life from her migration from Cuba to her career as a world-renowned composer. The evening included a performance by members of the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music.
Tania León (born in Havana) is highly regarded as a composer, conductor, educator, and advisor to arts organizations. Her orchestral work Stride, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music. In 2022, she was named a recipient of the 45th Annual Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements. In 2023, she was awarded the Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition from Northwestern University. Most recently, León became the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s next Composer-in-Residence—a post she will hold for two seasons, beginning in September 2023. She will also hold Carnegie Hall’s Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair for its 2023–24 season.
Recent premieres include works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Grossman Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, Modern Ensemble, Jennifer Koh’s project Alone Together, and The Curtis Institute. Appearances as guest conductor include Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, Gewandhausorchester, Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuba, among others. Upcoming commissions feature a work for the League of American Orchestras, and a work for Claire Chase, flute, and The Crossing Choir with text by Rita Dove.
A founding member and first music director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, León instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series, co-founded the American Composers Orchestra’s Sonidos de las Américas Festivals, was new music adviser to the New York Philharmonic, and is the founder/artistic director of Composers Now, a presenting, commissioning, and advocacy organization for living composers.
Honors include the New York Governor’s Lifetime Achievement, inductions into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and fellowship awards from ASCAP Victor Herbert Award and The Koussevitzky Music and Guggenheim Foundations, among others. She also received a proclamation for Composers Now by New York City Mayor, and the MadWoman Festival Award in Music (Spain). She has been awarded the XIX Premio SGAE for Iberian American Music Tomás Luis de Victoria 2023, becoming the first woman to be honored with the highest composition prize conferred by Spain. In 2024, she was awarded the Distinguished Artist Award for the International Society of Performing Arts.
León has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Colgate University, Oberlin, SUNY Purchase College, The Curtis Institute of Music, Columbia University, Jersey City University, and served as U.S. Artistic Ambassador of American Culture in Madrid. A CUNY professor emerita, she was awarded a 2018 United States Artists Fellowship, Chamber Music America’s 2022 National Service Award, Harvard University’s 2022 Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award, and New York University’s 2023 Dorothy Height Award. In 2023, Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library acquired León’s archive.
