White a finalist for The American Prize

calendar icon03 Aug 2023    

Lincoln, Neb.--Tyler White, professor of composition and director of orchestras in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Glenn Korff School of Music, is one of 17 finalists for The American Prize in the division of Composers (opera/theater/film/dance-professional division) for his opera “The Gambler’s Son.” Winners will be announced later this year.

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts is the nation’s most comprehensive series of contests in the performing arts. The American Prize is designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, directors, ensembles and composers in the U.S. at professional, college/university, community and high school level, based on submitted recordings. 

“I’m of course very pleased and gratified by this recognition for ‘The Gambler’s Son,’” White said. “The opera was a joy to write (thanks largely to the superb libretto authored by my wife, John E. Weaver Professor of English Laura White), and I hope it all leads to the work’s wider exposure. The American Prize means a lot to me, since I have some history with it:  ‘O Pioneers!’ was an opera finalist in 2014, in 2020 my orchestral piece ‘A Brand-New Summer’ won First Prize in the Orchestral Composition category, my piano trio ‘Three Views from the Mountain’ won Second Prize for Chamber Composition, my wind ensemble piece ‘Caldera’ received Honorable Mention for Band Composition, and my choral ‘De Profundis’ was a finalist for Choral Composition.

“The Gambler’s Son” premiered in 2019 by UNL Opera and was directed by William Shomos, the Richard H. Larson Distinguished Professor of Music (Voice) and director of opera. The opera was adapted from Nebraska author Mari Sandoz’s 1960 novel, “Son of the Gamblin’ Man,” which tells the true story of the founding of Cozad, Nebraska, of its larger-than-life founder, John J. Cozad, and of Cozad’s son, the illustrious American painter Robert Henri. The opera was performed in both Lincoln and Cozad with support from the James C. and Rhonda Seacrest Tour Nebraska Opera Fund.

“The subject of ‘The Gambler’s Son’ was first suggested by Nebraska arts supporter Jane Rohman, who spearheaded the opera’s commission and who grew up in the Cozad, Nebraska, area where the opera is set,” White said.

“The Gambler’s Son” was created with the generous support of Jane Rohman, the family of Williard Bellamy, the family of Ivan and Shirley Paulsen, the Lincoln Community Foundation, the UNL Friends of Opera and the Wilson Foundation.

White has been at Nebraska since 1994. In 1997, his cello concerto “Threnos (William Schuman in memoriam) became the first work by a Nebraskan to win the Omaha Symphony’s International New Music Competition, and in 1999 his opera “O Pioneers!,” the first-ever operatic treatment of a Willa Cather novel, premiered at UNL and was televised on Nebraska Public Television. In 2001, White was named Composer of the Year by the Nebraska Music Teachers Association.

In 2003, White’s Elegy “for the orphans of terror” was awarded the Masterworks Prize and was recorded by the Sofia Philharmonic on the inaugural volume of ERMMedia’s “Masterworks of the New Era” CD series. In 2006, his “Mystic Trumpeter” (Symphony No. 2) was awarded honorable mention in the ASCAP Foundation/Rudolf Nissim Prize competition.

For more on White, visit https://go.unl.edu/tylerwhite.