Prof. Mara Helmuth (1994 Composition DMA, currently on the faculty of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music) and Prof. Katherine Balch (2022 Composition DMA, now on the faculty of the Yale School of Music) were awarded 2025 Guggenheim Fellowships for their music composition proposals. Prof. Helmuth plans to create an integrated software application for composing works for instruments and computer, based on her extensive work with live/interactive computer music systems. Prof. Balch will be using her award to produce her debut album, which will focus upon music for double bass and friends.
Helmuth says that the Guggenheim support "will give me time to deepen my work, creating a composition system for composing algorithmic music for both computer and instruments." Prof. Balch says that "the award gives me the time and space to do a lot of work I’ve put on hold for years, and to create and share something that represents collaborations, friendships, and my own artistic growth over the past decade."
Congratulations to both of them for their groundbreaking work!
