As part of the 22-member band, Alarm Will Sound, Lawrence professors Michael Clayville and Erin Lesser received the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance award.
Lawrence University professors Michael Clayville and Erin Lesser, members of Alarm Will Sound, won Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance at the 68th Annual GRAMMY Awards held Feb. 1, in Los Angeles.
“It is an incredible honor for Erin and me to represent Lawrence University and its world-class Conservatory of Music through this GRAMMY win,” said Clayville, who plays trombone. “The values we carry from Lawrence—artistic rigor, collaboration, and curiosity—are central to everything we do.”
Alarm Will Sound won the GRAMMY for its recording of Donnacha Dennehy’s Land of Winter. The piece, also nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, reflects the interplay of light throughout the year in Ireland across 12 interconnected movements.
“It is an incredible honor for Erin and me to represent Lawrence University and its world-class Conservatory of Music through this GRAMMY win,” Clayville said. “The values we carry from Lawrence—artistic rigor, collaboration, and curiosity—are central to everything we do.”
Clayville, instructor of music in entrepreneurial studies and social engagement at Lawrence, is one of the founding members of Alarm Will Sound, a contemporary chamber orchestra led by Artistic Director and Conductor Alan Pierson.
Erin Lesser, who is married to Clayville, joined Alarm Will Sound as a flute player more than a decade ago. An accomplished soloist and chamber musician, Lesser has been a professor of flute at Lawrence since 2011.
