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Bienen School of Music faculty member Donald Nally and alumna Katrina Lenk are among the winners of the 61st annual Grammy Awards.
Nally, who is John W. Beattie Chair of Music in the Bienen School and conductor of The Crossing, won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for Lansing McLoskey: Zealot Canticles.
This marks Nally’s second consecutive Grammy Award win and third consecutive nomination. He previously won Best Choral Performance for The Fifth Century with The Crossing in 2018. Nally also received a Grammy nomination in the same category in 2017 for Thomas Lloyd's Bonhoeffer.
Based on Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka’s Twelve Canticles for the Zealot, Lansing McLoskey’s Zealot Canticles is a concert-length choral oratorio for clarinet, string quartet, and 24-voice choir. The Crossing’s performance also features clarinetist Doris Hall-Galuti and a string quartet comprised of violinists Rebecca Harris and Mandy Wolman, violist Lorenzo Raval, and cellist Arlen Hlusko. The album was released Sept. 28, 2018, on Innova Recordings.
Lenk won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album as a principal vocalist in The Band’s Visit.
- Related: Five questions with Katrina Lenk
Lenk previously won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for the production. Adam Kantor, a Northwestern School of Communication alumnus, also performs on the album.
The Band’s Visit was adapted from the 2007 film by Itamar Moses, with music composed by David Yazbek and stage direction by David Cromer. The production tells the story of an Egyptian band stuck overnight in a small Israeli desert town, and despite language barriers, both strangers and hosts find deep connection through music. Lenk originated the role of sultry cafe owner Dina.
Spektral Quartet — Northwestern alumni violist Doyle Armbrust (00) and cellist Russell Rolen (G11), with violinists Clara Lyon and Maeve Feinberg — received a 2019 Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album for Yo Soy La Tradición, featuring Miguel Zenón. The award in that category went to Dafnis Prieto Big Band for Back to the Sunset.
