Sebastian Currier (M.M. ’87, D.M.A.’92, composition) has been awarded the 2007 Grawemeyer Prize for music composition for his 2003 work Static, a quintet for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano that is featured on a disc of Currier’s music just released by Koch International Classics. The 30-minute composition (selected from among 153 nominations) is one of the few chamber or solo works (besides Boulez’s Sur Incises and Gyorgy Ligeti’s Études for Piano) to receive this prestigious award, which is normally bestowed for a work more symphonic in scope. Established in 1985, the University of Louisville’s Grawemeyer Award is one of the top international music honors and includes a cash prize of $200,000.

Currier, 48, was born in Rhode Island into a musical family; his father is a violinist, and both his mother and brother are also composers. He is a faculty member at Columbia University and a former Juilliard faculty member. Static was commissioned by Copland House of Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., with funds from Meet the Composer for its resident ensemble, Music from Copland House, which premiered the work at Columbia’s Miller Theater in February 2005 and recorded it for Koch.