The UMKC Conservatory is very pleased to note that the Lorena Searcy Cravens/ Millsap/ Missouri Distinguished Professor of Composition Chen Yi has been elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is one of two composers; Meredith Monk is the other. This year 11 writers and composers are being inducted in May 2019.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers, and writers. Early members include William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Julia Ward Howe, Henry James, Edward MacDowell, Theodore Roosevelt, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John Singer Sargent, Mark Twain, and Edith Wharton. The Academy’s 250 members are elected for life and pay no dues.
In addition to electing new members as vacancies occur, the Academy seeks to foster and sustain an interest in Literature, Music, and the Fine Arts by administering over 70 awards and prizes, exhibiting art and manuscripts, funding performances of new works of musical theater, and purchasing artwork for donation to museums across the country.
Congratulations, Dr. Chen Yi!