On March 20 at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR 

Deborah Borda, Program Chair, and Nancy Fisher

announce five 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipients:

 

Balourdet quartet

njioma chinyere grevious and JULIAN RHEE, violinists

CLAYTON STEPHENSON, pianist

SANDBOX PERCUSSION

          

On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at 6 p.m., five 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grants are being announced by Deborah Borda, Avery Fisher Artist Program Chair, and Nancy Fisher, daughter of the late Avery and Janet Fisher. The recipients being honored at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR are the Balourdet Quartet; Njioma Chinyere Grevious and Julian Rhee, violinists; Clayton Stephenson, pianist; and Sandbox Percussion. This marks the first time a percussion ensemble has been awarded a Career Grant.

 

Performances by all five Career Grant recipients for an invited audience will follow the announcement. Hosted by WQXR's Elliott Forrest, the Career Grant performances will also be webcast live by WQXR, New York’s all-classical music station, at www.wqxr.org, and broadcast on Thursday, April 11 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, April 13 at 7 p.m. on 105.9 FM. 

 

The 2024 Career Grants award ceremony continues a tradition established five decades ago by Avery Fisher, and WQXR has been a broadcast partner of these festivities since the first Career Grants were awarded in 1976. Showcasing Career Grant awardees for the eleventh year, The WNET Group will feature the 2024 Career Grant recipients on NYC-ARTS, a weekly arts and culture program airing on New York's flagship PBS station, THIRTEEN (dates to be announced).  

 

Since 1976, 176 Career Grants have been awarded (including this year’s grants), and all recipients are currently active musicians. Former Career Grant recipients include saxophonist Steven Banks; violinist James Ehnes; flutist Demarre McGill; pianists Ursula Oppens and Yuja Wang; cellist Alisa Weilerstein; and the Calidore String Quartet. 

 

Fifty years ago, in 1974, the Avery Fisher Artist Program was established by the late Avery Fisher as part of a major gift to Lincoln Center. It continues to serve as a monument to Mr. Fisher’s philanthropy and love of classical music. The Career Grants in particular exemplify his commitment to nurturing young artists and embody his philosophy to give back to the world what music had given to him. The Program supporting instrumentalists and chamber ensembles who must be U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents providesrecognition in two categories: the Career Grants, given annually, and the Prize, given less frequently as the highest form of recognition for outstanding achievement and leadership in classical music. The Avery Fisher Artist Program is committed to all forms of diversity, with award recipients being chosen based on outstanding artistic merit. Final selections are made by the Program’s Executive Committee.  

 

Avery Fisher Career Grants of the Avery Fisher Artist Program are designed to give professional assistance and recognition to talented instrumentalists, as well as chamber ensembles, who the Recommendation Board and Executive Committee of the Avery Fisher Artist Program believe to have great potential for major careers in classical music. Each recipient receives an award of $25,000, to be used for specific needs in advancing a career. Additionally, the Career Grant ceremony performances are professionally recorded for the recipients’ unrestricted use, posted on the Program’s website, webcast live and later broadcast and streamed by WQXR, and telecast by NYC-ARTS on THIRTEEN. As of 2016, recipients receive a custom designed rosette as a symbol of the Career Grant award. Up to five Avery Fisher Career Grants may be given each year. Recipients are nominated by the Program's Recommendation Board, made up of nationally known instrumentalists, conductors, composers, music educators, managers, and presenters.

 

The Executive Committee currently comprises Emanuel Ax, pianist; Deborah Borda, Chair, Avery Fisher Artist Program, Executive Advisor to the President and Board of Directors, New York Philharmonic, and Founder of BordaArts; Mary Lou Falcone, M.L. Falcone, Public Relations; David Finckel and Wu Han, Artistic Directors, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Music@Menlo; Henry Fogel, Dean Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of the Arts, Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University; Anthony Fogg, Bernell Artistic Administrator of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Director of Tanglewood; Pamela Frank, violinist; Jeremy Geffen, Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances; Gary Ginstling, President and CEO, New York Philharmonic; Ara Guzelimian, Artistic and Executive Director, Ojai Music Festival and Special Advisor, Office of the President, The Juilliard School; Yo-Yo Ma, cellist; Anthony McGill, clarinetist; Chad Smith, President and CEO, Boston Symphony Orchestra; Matías Tarnopolsky, President and CEO, The Philadelphia Orchestra; Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; and Henry Timms, President and CEO, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Charles Avery Fisher, Nancy Fisher, and Philip Avery Kirschner are advisors to the Program. The Avery Fisher Artist Program is proud to be a constituent of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.  We also acknowledge our gratitude to WQXR for its partnership in presenting the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant awards. 

 

Career Grant Recipient Biographies can be accessed here.

 

Imagery of this year’s recipients may be accessed here.

 

Website: www.averyfisherartistprogram.org