Composer Zhou Long has just been named recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, joining both an elite list of winners and an even more exclusive number of immigrants who have won the award. While it may seem odd to see the quintessential American music prize go to a non-native, the only official stipulation is that the prize must go to an “American,” as with other Pulitzers.

His winning work, Madame White Snake, is an opera that “draws on a Chinese folk tale to blend the musical traditions of the East and the West,” according to the board that awarded the prize. It was premiered in Boston in February of last year.

Zhou Long was born in Beijing in 1953; he emigrated to the United States in 1993, and gained citizenship in 1999. Though no official record of the opera has been yet released, early clips suggest a full, lush sound with some traditional Chinese instrumentation and harmonies that are a considerable departure from conventional Eastern pentatonicism.

Other non-native American winners of the Pulitzer include Bernard Rans (originally from England), Shulamit Ran (originally from Israel), Henry Brant (originally from Canada), Gian Carlo Menotti (originally from Italy), Ernst Toch (originally from Austria), Karel Husa (originally from the Czech Republic), and Mario Davidosvky (originally from Argentina).

Other nominees for this year’s Pulitzer for Music were Fred Lerdahl’s Arches and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon’s Comala.

See also:
Opera Boston Production Wins Pulitzer, by Joel Brown via The Boston Globe.

Posted on April 19th, 2011 at 3:31 pm | Filed under General |