Seattle Symphony’s Recording of John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean is First-Ever Recording by the Orchestra to Receive a Grammy Award
February 8, 2015
It was announced earlier today that the Seattle Symphony recording of Become Ocean by John Luther Adams won “Best Contemporary Classical Composition” at the 2015 Grammy Awards. This marks a historic moment in the Symphony’s 111-year history as their first recording to win a Grammy after a total of 18 nominations.
Seattle Symphony Music Director Ludovic Morlot says: “We’re so very proud that Become Ocean is recognized with a Grammy Award. John Luther Adams is one of our most important contemporary American voices and I am grateful for my collaboration with him, and for the artistry and dedication of our musicians and our audio engineer Dmitriy Lipay in bringing this recording to life.”
In December, it was announced that the Seattle Symphony received six nominations in five categories – the most they have received in a single year. Nominations included Best Orchestral Performance, Best Classical Instrumental Solo by Xavier Phillips, and Best Engineered Performance for Seattle Symphony Media’s Recording of Works by Henri Dutilleux. In addition, Seattle Symphony’s commission and performance of Become Ocean by John Luther Adams received nominations for Best Contemporary Composition and Best Engineered Performance. Seattle Symphony Media Recording Engineer Dmitriy Lipay was nominated for Producer of the Year.
About the Recording
“John Luther Adams’ atmospheric and revolutionary piece Become Ocean was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony and received its world premiere in Seattle on June 20, 2013. Adams received a 2014 Pulitzer Prize in Music for this composition. Music Director Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony gave its east coast premiere at Carnegie Hall in May 2014 as part of Spring for Music, and the acclaimed recording of Become Ocean – made in November 2013 at the Symphony’s acoustically superb Benaroya Hall in Seattle – was released on September 30, 2014 by Cantaloupe Music. The recording was created using the Symphony’s own state-of-the art in-house recording facility, supervised by audio engineer Dmitriy Lipay.
“It may be the loveliest apocalypse in musical history.”
– The New Yorker
About Ludovic Morlot
French conductor Ludovic Morlot is Music Director of the Seattle Symphony. During the 2014–2015 season Ludovic and the Seattle Symphony will continue to invite their audiences to ‘listen boldly,’ presenting a wide variety of works ranging from Mozart’s Requiem, Dvorák’s last three symphonies, Berlioz Roméo et Juliette and Mahler Symphony No. 3 to Ives, Dutilleux and Salonen as well as premieres by Sebastian Currier, Julian Anderson and Trimpin.
Ludovic Morlot was Chief Conductor of La Monnaie for three years (2012-2014). During this time he conducted several new productions including La Clemenza di Tito, Jenufa and Pelléas et Mélisande. Concert performances, both in Brussels and Aix-en-Provence, included repertoire by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Britten, Webern and Bruneau.
During the 2014–2015 season Ludovic will return to both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestras. He also has a strong connection with the Boston Symphony Orchestra whom he conducts regularly in Boston and Tanglewood and recently on a tour to the west coast of America. This relationship started when he was the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor at the Tanglewood Music Center and subsequently appointed assistant conductor for the orchestra and their Music Director James Levine (2004-07). Ludovic has also conducted the New York Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras in Philadelphia, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Elsewhere, Ludovic’s engagements have included the Royal Concertgebouw, London Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Budapest Festival, Orchestre National de France, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras.
Trained as a violinist, Ludovic studied conducting in London and was conductor in residence with the Orchestre National de Lyon (2002-04). Ludovic was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014. He is Chair of Orchestral Conducting Studies at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle.
About the Seattle Symphony
Founded in 1903, the Seattle Symphony is one of America’s leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard live from September through July by more than 300,000 people. It performs in one of the finest modern concert halls in the world — the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall — in downtown Seattle. Its extensive education and community-engagement programs reach over 100,000 children and adults each year. The Seattle Symphony has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season, including John Luther Adams’ recent Become Ocean, which won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music. The orchestra has made more than 140 recordings and has received 18 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades. In 2014 the Symphony launched its in-house recording label, Seattle Symphony Media.
The Seattle Symphony’s commission of John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean was generously underwritten by Lynn and Brian Grant. The premiere of this piece was supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
