The American Academy of Arts and Letters has named Professor Laura Schwendinger and librettist Ginger Strand winners of the Charles Ives Opera Prize for their opera Artemisia. Based on the life of 17th-century Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi, Artemisia premiered at the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in 2019 and received an OPERA America Discovery Grant.

The Ives Opera Prize is is the largest and most prestigious award for opera composers in the US. As composer, Schwendinger will receive $35,000, and Strand, as librettist, will receive $15,000.

Operas were nominated by the Academy’s members, and winners chosen by a jury comprised of members John Harbison (chair), Anthony Davis, Tania León, Tobias Picker, and Shulamit Ran, who met in 2022. The awards will be given at the annual Ceremonial in May.

The first composer to win the American Academy in Berlin Prize, Schwendinger is a professor of composition at the Mead Witter School of Music.