Andrew Waggoner, associate professor of composition and theory in the
Rose, Jules R. and
Stanford S. Setnor School of Music in Syracuse University's College of Visual and
Performing Arts (VPA), has won a 2009 Academy Award in Music from the American
Academy of Arts and Letters. The award honors outstanding artistic achievement and
acknowledges composers who have arrived at their own voice.
Waggoner, who is also chair of the Setnor School's composition and theory department, will
receive a $7,500 award and an additional $7,500 toward the recording of one work.
Born in New Orleans, Waggoner studied at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts
(NOCCA), the Eastman School of Music and Cornell University. His awards include the Lee
Ettelson Composer's Award from Composers Inc., a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Roger
Sessions Memorial Bogliasco Fellowship in Music from the Liguria Study Center in
Bogliasco, Italy.
Waggoner's music has been commissioned and performed by the Los Angeles
Philharmonic; the St. Louis, Denver, Syracuse and Winnipeg symphonies; the Cassatt,
Corigliano, Miro and Degas quartets; the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble; the California
E.A.R. Unit; pianist Gloria Cheng; violist Melia Watras; cellist Robert Burkhart; the Bohuslav
Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra of Zlin, Czech Republic; Sequitur; the Empyrean
Ensemble; CELLO; Flexible Music; Ensemble Nordlys of Denmark; and Ensemble Accroche
Note of France.
Waggoner is a founding director of the Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music in
Vinalhaven, Maine, and teaches regularly at NOCCA Riverfront. With his wife, cellist and
Setnor faculty member Caroline Stinson, he formed Open End, which has given concerts in
New York City; Syracuse; Strasbourg, France; and Florence, Italy.
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 more than
50 composers, artists, architects and writers with cash awards ranging from $2,500 to
$75,000. Other activities of the academy include exhibitions of art, architecture and
manuscripts; publications on the academy's history and events; and readings and
performances of new musicals. For more information, visit http://www.artsandletters.org.
VPA is committed to the education of cultural leaders who will engage and inspire audiences
through performance, visual art, design, scholarship and commentary. The college provides
the tools for self-discovery and risk-taking in an environment that thrives on critical thought
and action. Learn more at http://vpa.syr.edu.
