Wesleyan music professor wins MacArthur ‘genius’ Award

MIDDLETOWN — Tyshawn Sorey, who joined the staff at Wesleyan University in the fall as assistant professor of music, has been awarded a fellowship known as a “genius” grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The fellowship is a “$625,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative and creative individuals as an investment in their potential,” according to the MacArthur website. Fellows are selected based on “exceptional creativity,” “promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments” and “potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.”

Recipients “may use the fellowship to advance their expertise, engage in bold new work, or ... alter the direction of their careers.”

“Becoming a MacArthur Fellow gives me the encouragement to continue being the artist I am, to stay sharp, move forward, remain progressive and take yet-to-be traveled steps in my creative development, and to encourage others like me to do the same,” Sorey said.

A drummer, composer and conductor, Sorey holds a bachelor of music degree from William Paterson University and a doctor of musical arts degree from Columbia University. He is an international composer and musician who plays percussion, trombone and piano. He has been nominated for the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts and has received the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Impact Award.

Sorey studied composition at Wesleyan with Anthony Braxton, the John Spencer Camp professor of music, emeritus, who won a MacArthur grant in 1994.

John Rogers photo Tyshawn Sorey