Composer Joan Tower will receive the League of American Orchestras’ highest honor, the Gold Baton, at the service organization’s 74th National Conference in Nashville. Tower will receive the award during the conference’s Closing Plenary, June 5, 1:30-3:00 p.m. CST, at the Omni Hotel Nashville.
Tower has a strong connection to the city of Nashville: The Nashville Symphony recorded her work Made in America with conductor Leonard Slatkin at Schermerhorn Symphony Center, just prior to the venue’s grand opening in 2006. The recording would go on to win three Grammy Awards in 2008. Tower’s widely performed work was commissioned by a consortium of 65 orchestras through the League’s Ford Made in America project, the largest orchestral commissioning consortium in the country’s history. Tower is also in the midst of celebrating her 80th birthday year, with numerous concerts and events taking place throughout this season.
“We are so happy to celebrate Joan Tower’s immense contribution to orchestras,” said League of American Orchestras President and CEO Jesse Rosen. “She has been a beloved presence in our community: an exemplary musical citizen, an inspiring mentor, an energetic champion of new music and, in particular, women composers and performers, and a delightful colleague whose music has been broadly embraced by musicians and audiences alike.”
