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Garth Neustadter
Two Yale School of Music composers have earned prestigious awards for their work. Yoshiaki Onishi, who received a master of music degree in 2007 and an artist diploma in 2008, received the Gaudeamus Prize for his Départ dans…. And Garth Neustadter, who’s scheduled to receive his master of music degree in 2012, won a Primetime Emmy Award for his original score for John Muir in the New World, a documentary film created for PBS’ American Masters series.
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Yoshi Onishi
Onishi received the Gaudeamus Prize at the conclusion of Gaudeamus Music Week in The Netherlands, according to a press release issued by the Yale School of Music.
Onishi was quoted in the press release as saying: “Winning the prize was the last thing I was expecting at the Gaudeamus Muziekweek. … I was focused on a fruitful collaboration with the Nieuw Ensemble, which played my piece with vitality and intellect. With thirteen nominees and their thirteen completely different stylistic traits, I thought anybody could win. Hearing my name announced at the award ceremony seemed almost too surreal.”
In the press release, the Gaudeamus Prize jury described Onishi as “a master of the material,” whose “winning piece was written from a strong, creative driving force. In his work he created his own world with its own rules and sounds, a seemingly inescapable form with an extraordinary musical interaction between the musicians. The jury is looking forward to discover how this remarkable talent will develop.”
Upon receiving his Emmy Award, Neustadter told the Yale School of Music: “I had been extremely honored just to receive the nomination, so receiving the actual award was a humbling moment, and I am very appreciative of everyone involved in the project including members of the Yale Philharmonia, Symphony, and Linden String Quartet,” according to a separate press release.
Other awards bestowed on Neustadter have included a 2010 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award. He earned top honors at the 2007 Turner Classic Movies Young Film Composers Competition, a prize that came with a commission to compose a film score for a restored version of The White Sister, a silent film featuring Lillian Gish that debuted in 1923.