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EMBARGOED UNTIL Tuesday, October 13, 2020 25th Heinz Awards Honor Leading Pianist and Composer Gabriela Lena Frank for Breaking Cultural, Gender and Disability Barriers in Classical Music Through her academy, Dr. Frank is mentoring aspiring composers from diverse backgrounds and inspiring them to prioritize giving back to their communities while leading eco-conscious lives PITTSBURGH, October 13, 2020—The Heinz Family Foundation today named leading pianist and composer Gabriela Lena Frank, D.M.A., a recipient of the prestigious 25th Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities category. Dr. Frank is honored for creating brilliant compositions that weave the colors, sounds and mythology of Latin America into classical constructs, and for breaking cultural and gender barriers in classical music composition. She is also recognized for establishing the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, which provides professional mentorship to emerging composers from all music backgrounds, guiding them to become artists who prioritize eco-conscious ways of making music as well as giving back to their community. As part of the accolade, Dr. Frank will receive an unrestricted cash award of $250,000. Currently composer-in-residence at the Philadelphia Orchestra, Dr. Frank is widely considered to be one of the most important composers of her generation. Her work has been commissioned by dozens of renowned institutions, orchestras and festivals around the world, and has been premiered by luminaries such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, soprano Dawn Upshaw, the Cuarteto Latinoamericano with guitarist Manuel Barrueco, and conductors Marin Alsop and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. She is currently working on her first opera, El último sueño de Frida y Diego, with longtime collaborator and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, for the San Diego Opera. Born with near profound hearing loss in Berkeley, California, to a mother of mixed Peruvian- indio/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Dr. Frank writes compositions that often reflect her personal studies of Latin American culture. While stylistically focused on contemporary music, Dr. Frank draws on poetry, mythology and native musical styles, fusing the colors and textures of her heritage into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own. She is a member of the venerated G. Schirmer, Inc. roster of artists, exclusively published and managed. In 2017, Dr. Frank founded the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music at her home and farm in the rural mountains of Mendocino County, California. Dr. Frank accepts aspiring composers with diverse Heinz Awards New Release – p. 2 backgrounds from across the globe, including those who have avoided western notation for its cultural limitations, teaching fluency and ownership of notation for one’s expressive purposes. As part of their residency, composer participants, together with their mentor performers, volunteer their time through performances and music coaching in the surrounding Anderson Valley. In doing so, they are following Dr. Frank’s lead in prioritizing arts citizenship as central in the life of an artist. Dr. Frank also volunteers her time to teach music appreciation at the Anderson Valley Adult School and music composition to students at Anderson Valley High School, a rural school with a large Latino population that has little access to the arts. Dr. Frank’s success is notable in a field primarily dominated for centuries by able-bodied white men. Reflecting on breaking barriers for women of color and the disabled, she recalls an experience she had as a college freshman. “On my first day, a distinguished member of the piano faculty—who was white—abruptly entered my practice room and yelled at me for daring to sully the keys with my fingers. He assumed I was a member of the cleaning staff because I am Latina. He grudgingly apologized, but that experience affected me deeply. I thought, ‘And would it be so bad if I were indeed a cleaning lady, enchanted by the instrument?’” She adds, “As a person of color, when you enter classical music, you need great fortitude. You may love European culture and European music, but you eventually realize that, with a few exceptions, those you are studying and working with are not necessarily going to love your own culture and your own music back. Your relationship to the music conservatory is not necessarily one built on cultural reciprocity. And it’s tragic that this relationship has largely changed very little. When I guest at conservatories today, I feel like I’m stepping into a time machine. You still hear the same kinds of repertoire and see the same kinds of competitions posted on the bulletin boards. The teacher/student/administrator demographic has evolved slightly, but not enough, because classical music has always largely trained musicians for the 1800s. It is one of the reasons why I started the academy, and why I pour so much into mentorship.” At the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, young composers receive a rich study and mentorship experience as part of their residency, but during their stay, Dr. Frank also invests deeply in showing these dedicated musicians that a deeper, more meaningful artistic life is one that is connected to community. “When artists come through my academy, we work on their music and we give them feedback, and they enjoy being in our beautiful setting. And then, they meet the community here in this tiny town of Boonville, California. They come to the high school where I volunteer, which is predominantly made up of children of the vineyard and farm workers, many without papers. And these emerging composers, who have been training like athletes for their careers, see how much time I spend with the community, and that this is just as important, if not more so, than doing the esteemed professional work that I am fortunate to claim.” She continues, “It opens up conversations about the choices they will have to make. I ask them, ‘Do you only want to play in concerts where the tickets are $100 and up? Who are you going to reach when you do that? Or would you like to be an arts citizen, and what does that mean?’ I think in our field, we’ve Heinz Awards New Release – p. 3 traditionally held a somewhat disdainful view of community work, that it was the work of musicians who weren’t as good, and that’s the proper arena for them. Or the community engagement wing of a professional orchestra is not taken as seriously as the wing that determines the mainstage concerts. That’s a terrible viewpoint, and it sets musicians up to be disconnected from the larger world to the great detriment of us all. We have so many gifts to share. Why confine us? And so, as I’ve stepped into the second half of my life, I’ve resolved to be someone who encourages change, and to do so while retaining my humor and joy through it all. It is the best possible work.” “As a composer, Gabriela has gifted us with sweeping, vibrant works that tell new stories and that breathe fresh life into classical music constructs. Beyond that, she is shaping a new vision of what it means to be a successful classical music artist, and who occupies that space,” says Teresa Heinz, Chairman of the Heinz Awards. “Through her Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, she is accomplishing what is long overdue: inspiring and equipping the next generation to continue to break gender and cultural barriers in the field. Gabriela’s warm and generous spirit, and her commitment to leading by example, are also demonstrating to her students that a life of artistic excellence is one that embraces arts citizenship and connection to community.” In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Frank is also coordinating support of performers who have lost income as the result of the cancelling of concerts across the country. Her academy has launched a GoFundMe campaign, with nearly all of its composer alumni donating their time to create short works. These new pieces of music are then given to performers who have lost employment and are facing financial hardship because of the pandemic. For an artist fee raised through the campaign, each performer meets with their paired composer through an online video platform to collaborate remotely in developing the new work, which is then premiered digitally to audiences from the safety of the performer’s home. Many of the teams are meeting for the first time through this relief project, a gesture of arts volunteerism from composers to performers, and all premieres are documented on YouTube for a sheltered-in audience. Established to honor the memory of U.S. Senator John Heinz, the Heinz Awards this year recognize those who have made significant contributions in five distinct areas of great importance to Senator Heinz: Arts and Humanities; Environment; Human Condition; Public Policy; and Technology, the Economy and Employment. Now in its 25th year, the Heinz Awards has recognized 151 individuals and awarded more than $30 million to the honorees. For more information about the awardees visit http://heinzawards.net/2020-recipients/. In addition to Dr. Frank, the 25th Heinz Awards honored the following individuals, who will receive their awards: • Environment: Linda E. Behnken, commercial fisherman and Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, whose work promotes sustainable fishing practices and safeguards Alaska’s rural fishing communities. • Human Condition: Molly Baldwin, Founder and CEO of Roca, who developed a highly effective intervention program for young people impacted by traumatic experiences at the center of urban violence. Heinz Awards New Release – p. 4 • Public Policy: Katy B. Kozhimannil, Ph.D., M.P.A., professor and researcher, who is driving policy change through research that examines health care inequities and maternal mortality in rural, low-income communities and among women of color.

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