Gabriela Lena Frank Named 2026 Composer of the Year By Musical America Worldwide
By David Salazar(© Erik Castro)
Musical America Worldwide has named Gabriela Lena Frank, the composer of “El último sueño de Frida y Diego,” as its 2026 Composer of the Year.
Frank, a Latin Grammy Award winner who has also been Grammy nominated as both a composer and pianist, is also a Guggenheim Fellowship, a USA Artist Fellowship, and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 2025, Frank concluded a multi-year residency with the Philadelphia Orchestra, which featured the world premiere of “Picaflor: A Future Myth.”
Her opera “El último sueño de Frida y Diego,” set for new productions at the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2026, premiered at San Diego Opera in 2022 and subsequently received performances at Los Angeles Opera and San Francisco Opera. She is also the composer of “In the Grove.”
Her other major projects include two new collaborations with MacArthur Fellow J. Drew Landham, a song cycle for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra titled “Ballad of John James Audubon and the Runaway,” and a new work for the Pacifica Quartet with narrator Sigourney Weaver.
Past winners of Musical America’s Composer of the Year Award include Jake Heggie, Kevin Puts, and Jessie Montgomery.
Read Related Stories
Categories
News
