Tod Machover, the Muriel R. Cooper Professor at the MIT Media Lab, has been named 2016 Composer of the Year by Musical America. In receiving this award, Machover joins the ranks of such illustrious composers as John Luther Adams, Meredith Monk, William Bolcom, Osvaldo Golijov, Arvo Pärt, George Crumb, Steve Reich, Stephen Sondheim, John Adams, and Milton Babbitt.
"I am very grateful to Musical America for this honor and am thrilled to join a tradition that includes so many composers whose musical imagination and impact I admire,” Machover says.
Machover, who heads the Media Lab's Opera of the Future research group, will premiere his fifth installment of the City Symphony Series in Detroit this November. Conducted by Leonard Slatkin and performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Machover integrates music, technology, and crowdsourcing to create a musical portrait for and by the people of Detroit. This symphony, written after symphonies for Toronto, Edinburgh, Perth, and Lucerne, comes shortly after Machover served as this year's Composer in Residence at the Lucerne Festival, where "A Symphony for Lucerne" debuted.
In addition to his faculty position at the Media Lab, Machover is also visiting professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
