Joan Tower, Grammy award-winning composer and pianist, who is widely regarded as one of the most important American composers living today, will perform at Stetson University Friday, Feb. 12, at 7:30 p.m. Hosted by Stetson’s School of Music, the “Sounds New X” concert is free and open to the public. It will be held at Lee Chapel inside Elizabeth Hall, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., on Stetson’s DeLand campus.

During a career spanning more than 50 years, Tower has made lasting contributions to musical life in the United States as composer, performer, conductor and educator. Her works have been commissioned by major ensembles, soloists and orchestras, including: the Emerson, Tokyo and Muir quartets; soloists Evelyn Glennie, Carol Wincenc, David Shifrin and John Browning; and the orchestras of Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., among others.

Tower became the first composer chosen for a Ford Made in America consortium commission of 65 orchestras. The Nashville Symphony and conductor Leonard Slatkin recorded that work, Made in America, with Tambor and Concerto for Orchestra for the Naxos label. The top-selling recording won three 2008 Grammy awards: Best Contemporary Classical Composition, Best Classical Album and Best Orchestral Performance. Tower’s latest recording includes Stroke, which received a 2016 Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

Her composer-residencies with orchestras and festivals include a decade with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Composer of the Year for their 2010-11 season, as well as the St. Louis Symphony, the Deer Valley Music Festival and the Yale/Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. She was in residence as the Albany Symphony’s Mentor Composer partner in the 2013-14 season.

For more information about Joan Tower’s concert, please call Stetson University’s School of Music at (386) 822-8950. Visit Stetson University’s School of Music for a complete performance schedule for Spring Semester 2016.

By David Baker