From a News Release issued by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, March 3, 2009

American Academy of Arts and Letters honors Gompper with Academy Award in Music

The American Academy of Arts and Letters announced today the recipients of this year's awards in music.  Among the sixteen composers honored this year is David Gompper, Professor of Music at The University of Iowa, who received an Academy Award in Music.

Each year, four Academy Awards in Music honor outstanding artistic achievement and acknowledge composers who have arrived at their own voice.  The four awardees this year, each of whom receives a $7500 cash prize and $7500 toward the recording of a work, are David Gompper, Professor of Composition and Director of the Center for New Music in the School of Music, The University of Iowa; David Lang, co-founder and co-artistic director of New York's legendary music festival, Bang on a Can; Andrew Waggoner, Composer-in-Residence at the Setnor School of Music, Syracuse University; and Barbara White, Associate Professor in the Music Department, Princeton University.

David Gompper studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Jeremy Dale Roberts and Humphrey Searle, taught at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and received his doctorate at the University of Michigan.  Since 1991, he has been Professor of Composition and Director of the Center for New Music at the University of Iowa.  In 2002–2003 Gompper was in Russia as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching, performing and conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. 

Gompper’s compositions are heard throughout the United States and Europe. His Spirals for two violins and string orchestra was premiered in Albania in April 2008.  He recently completed several new compositions: a new violin and piano work called Ikon for Wolfgang David, and a work for the Manhattan Sinfonietta entitled L'Icône St. Nicolas.  His Violin Concerto and other orchestral works will be recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (London) in the fall of 2009 for a release on Naxos in early 2011.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 to "foster, assist, and sustain an interest in literature, music, and the fine arts."  Each year, the Academy honors over 50 composers, artists, architects, and writers with cash awards.  Candidates for music awards are nominated by the 250 members of the Academy, and the recipients are selected by a committee of Academy members.   The awards will be presented at the Academy's annual Ceremonial in May. The Academy’s website is at http://www.artsandletters.org/.