New music department head’s CD receives two Grammy nominations

A disc of orchestral music by Kenneth Fuchs, the new head of the music department, has garnered two Grammy Award nominations.

The CD, An American Place, features three of Fuchs’ original compositions recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and released by Naxos on the American Classics label in August. The disc received nominations in the Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra category for English hornist Thomas Stacy’s performance of Fuchs’ Eventide, and the Best Classical Producer category for Michael Fine.

“I am thrilled and honored that the disc of my orchestral music recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra has received this recognition by the voting membership of the Recording Academy,” says Fuchs, who plans to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Feb. 8.

“It is very gratifying that 20 years of sustained friendship through music with conductor JoAnn Falletta and Thomas Stacy have led to this moment.

“I am so pleased this has happened during my first year at UConn,” he adds. “All of my colleagues have been tremendously supportive.”

The disc features Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra performing three of Fuchs’ original works: An American Place, a 19-minute work for full orchestra in one movement; Eventide, a 21-minute concerto for English horn, harp, percussion, and string orchestra; and Out of the Dark, a 15-minute suite for chamber orchestra, inspired by three paintings by abstract expressionist artist Helen Frankenthaler.

For Fuchs, the CD represents the culmination of 15 years of his creative life as a composer and 20 years of friendship that began when he, Falletta and Stacy, of the New York Philharmonic, were colleagues at The Juilliard School in New York City.