Nominated for awards such as Best Classical Solo Vocal Album and Best Choral Performance, over a dozen alumni and faculty from Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music appear on the lineup for the 67th Grammy Awards.
Austin Wulliman ’08 MMus is one such alum recognized in Sunday’s 67th annual Grammy Awards.
Wulliman is a violinist for the JACK Quartet, a string quartet that performs music by 20th- and 21st-century composers. The group’s album “Waves & Particles” is up for nomination this year in the best chamber music/small ensemble performance category.
Wulliman described the album as a reflection on different kinds of astrophysics. The album takes the “elemental building blocks” of music to create compositions reflective of big ideas about physics.
“(The Grammys are) a nice measurement of having some longevity in the field, Wulliman said, “but I feel like the ultimate reward for me is the feeling of sharing that music with other people.”
Wulliman noted that, for him, hearing audience members’ reactions to the album matters more than any award — a sentiment shared by other nominated NU alumni.
Elisa Sutherland ’12, ’14 MMus, part of two Grammy-nominated projects this awards cycle, said that while the nominations are nice, recording and performing these pieces in a room full of people is the special experience.
Sutherland is one of eight singers on the choral group Lorelei Ensemble’s “Beaufort Scales,” which is nominated for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. She also worked alongside 12 NU alumni for the Grammy-winning chamber choir The Crossing’s album “Ochre,” which was nominated for Best Choral Performance.
Sutherland said she feels lucky that she can make a living as a musician.
“It is a path that not everyone chooses, and then sometimes the people that do choose it realize it’s not for them,” Sutherland said. “What I’ve learned is that if you stick around long enough, amazing opportunities will come your way.”
Sutherland said she met the conductor for The Crossing, Professor Emeritus Donald Nally, during her time at NU. Upon graduation, she began singing professionally with the group in 2014 and said she has enjoyed the unique and timely repertoire he chooses for the choir.
Nally said each piece he commissions reflects its “season theme.” Yet, for “Ochre,” he noted there was no one specific theme. The album is a compilation of three pieces written at different points between the Covid-19 pandemic and 2023. The nomination marks Nally’s 10th Grammy nomination to date.
Many of the singers in The Crossing sang with Nally while they were at NU, he said, working with him to develop a particular skill or “musical sensibility.” As The Crossing needed specific vocal abilities, Nally said he would ask previous students to join the choir, facilitating an organic transition.
For assistant conductor Kevin Vondrak MMus ‘17, The Crossing allows him to continue working alongside musicians he has worked with since his time as a graduate student in 2015. Because the ensemble meets only when working on a project, the choir offers an opportunity for reunion, he said.
“Of course, everyone in The Crossing loves what we do, that’s why we do it,” Vondrak said. “But part of the joy is sharing it as well, and things like Grammys help us to share it and help people take notice.”
Outside of the 13 alumni in The Crossing, Grammy nominations extend to saxophonist Timothy E. Roberts ’87 for best classical solo vocal album and to alumni who performed in orchestras across the country.
These nominations highlight NU talent on a national stage.
“Whenever the Grammy nominations come out, there are so many amazing ensembles that are represented there,” Sutherland said. “As performers, we’re so lucky that we get to work with these ensembles and that there are enough opportunities that we can sing all these amazing projects.”
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