From the July 2010 issue of Our Moment, the UConn Foundation's e-newsletter.
Prominent philanthropists and longtime UConn supporters Raymond and Beverly Sackler of Greenwich have made a $100,000 gift to the UConn Foundation to the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Prize Fund in the School of Fine Arts as part of the university’s $600 million capital campaign, Our University. Our Moment. The Campaign for UConn. The Sacklers made the gift “in recognition of the sound and outstanding leadership” of departing UConn President Michael Hogan.
The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Fund, which the Sacklers established in 2000, has brought international acclaim to the School of Fine Arts. As a result of this additional investment, the annual award accompanying the composition prize, given to a prominent composer to support and promote new work, will increase to $25,000.
The prize offers significant recognition for the composer, including public performances and recordings. Each year, entrants are asked to compose a piece for a specific area of the musical arts as determined by the members of UConn’s music faculty. Previous winners have included J. Mark Scearce, director of the music department at North Carolina State University, the contemporary composer Nathan Kind Currier, winner of an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Sheila Silver, winner of several musical awards including the Rome Prize.
The Sacklers are well-known supporters of the arts and sciences throughout the world. Raymond Sackler is an internationally known philanthropist who with brothers Mortimer and Arthur financed the Sackler Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1981, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Gallery of Assyrian Art opened at the Met. In 1995, Queen Elizabeth knighted Raymond Sackler for his contributions to the sciences, arts, and astronomy.
“The Sacklers' additional gift to the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Fund will enable us to expand the annual award, thus attracting the very best composers in the world to compete,” said David G. Woods, dean of UConn’s School of Fine Arts. “This annual award encourages the development of new works in music and supports the creative process of active composers throughout the world. UConn is very fortunate to have this exciting competition on our campus.”
UConn honored Raymond and Beverly Sackler in 1998 with honorary degrees in recognition of their contributions to philanthropy. The couple was instrumental in forging a partnership between the Metropolitan Opera and UConn, the first collaboration of its kind between the historic opera company and an institution of higher learning. The fund provides a UConn student with a career-enhancing internship at the Metropolitan Opera, and music and drama students with behind-the-scenes access to the Met.
The Sacklers became involved with UConn through Raymond Sackler’s friendship with Robert H. Gray, an active studio painter and serious scholar of the arts who was dean of the School of Fine Arts from 1991 until his death in 1999. They have been committed supporters of the School of Fine Arts, establishing a fine arts program, the Metropolitan Opera fund, the music composition fund, a master artists Institute and an artist-in-residence program. They also have been generous supporters of the UConn Health Center, establishing a fund for genetics and molecular medicine, and at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, and another for a distinguished lecture series in human rights.
For more information about supporting the School of Fine Arts, please contact the UConn Foundation’s development department.
