Amy Williams has been awarded a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Goddard Lieberson Fellowships, endowed in 1978 by the CBS Foundation, are given to mid-career composers of exceptional gifts. Williams is one of two Lieberson recipients for this year.  Overall, 17 awardees were selected by a committee of Academy members: Yehudi Wyner (chairman), Martin Boykan, Martin Bresnick, Mario Davidovsky, Stephen Hartke, Stephen Jaffe, and Tobias Picker.  The awards will be presented at the Academy's annual Ceremonial in May. Candidates for music awards are nominated by the 250 members of the Academy.

This most recent award comes on the heels of Williams’ 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship which has enabled her to complete several new compositions, record a new album of her music, and create a multimedia collaboration around her Cineshape compositions with video artist and fellow Pitt faculty member Aaron Henderson.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers, and writers. The Academy’s 250 members are elected for life and pay no dues. In addition to electing new members as vacancies occur, the Academy seeks to foster and sustain an interest in Literature, Music, and the Fine Arts by administering over 70 awards and prizes, exhibiting art and manuscripts, funding performances of new works of musical theater, and purchasing artwork for donation to museums across the country.

Congratulations to Amy Williams for yet more affirmation of her substantial contributions as a composer!