Avery Fisher Artist Program Awards

Three Avery Fisher Career Grants for 2025

 

On March 18 at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR

Deborah Borda, Program Chair, Nancy Fisher, and Charles Avery Fisher

announce three 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipients:
 

JOSHUA BROWN, violinist

TOMMY MESA, cellist

VIANO QUARTET

 

     

 

On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at 6 p.m., three 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grants are being announced by Deborah Borda, Avery Fisher Artist Program Chair, Nancy Fisher, and Charles Avery Fisher, children of the late Avery and Janet Fisher. The recipients being honored at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR are Joshua Brown, violinist; Tommy Mesa, cellist; and the Viano Quartet.

Performances by all three 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 only all-classical music station, at www.wqxr.org, and broadcast on Thursday, April 3 at 8 p.m. and on Saturday, April 5 at 9 p.m. on 105.9 FM.

The 2025 Career Grants award ceremony continues a tradition established over 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. In addition, PBS’ Great Performances will feature the 2025 Career Grant recipients in Taking Note, a digital series spotlighting rising instrumentalists.

Since 1976, 179 Career Grants have been awarded (including this year’s grants), and all recipients are currently active musicians. Former Career Grant recipients include cellist Jay Campbell; pianists Kirill Gerstein and Conrad Tao; violinists Augustin Hadelich and Bella Hristova; flutist Demarre McGill; and Sandbox Percussion.

The Avery Fisher Artist Program was established in 1974 by the late Avery Fisher as part of a major gift to Lincoln Center and serves 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 provides recognition 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. Final selections are made by the Program’s Executive Committee and award recipients are chosen based on outstanding artistic merit.

Avery Fisher Career Grants of the Avery Fisher Artist Program are designed to give professional assistance and recognition to talented instrumentalists, as well as small 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, archived on the Program’s website, webcast live and later broadcast and streamed by WQXR, and featured on PBS’ Great Performances digital series Taking Note. 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, 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, Vice President of Artistic Planning, Boston Symphony Orchestra; Pamela Frank, violinist; Jeremy Geffen, Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances; Ara Guzelimian, Artistic and Executive Director, Ojai Music Festival and Special Advisor, The Juilliard School; Yo-Yo Ma, cellist; Anthony McGill, clarinetist; Mariko Silver, President and CEO, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; Chad Smith, President and CEO, Boston Symphony Orchestra; Matías Tarnopolsky, President and CEO, New York Philharmonic; and Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer, 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 being a broadcast partner in presenting the 2025 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

 

Photo credits (L to R): Joshua Brown by Sebastian Orr; Tommy Mesa by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco; Viano Quartet by Kevin W. Condon.