Lucas Richman directs the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. (Photo by Eric Smith)
KNOXVILLE, TN – Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Music Director Lucas Richman won his first Grammy Award at the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards on February 13, 2011 for having conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on Christopher Tin's classical/world fusion album Calling All Dawns.
Richman won the award for Best Classical Crossover Album while the album garnered a second award, Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists, for the hit song "Baba Yetu."
Calling All Dawns, composed by Christopher Tin, features the collaborative efforts of more than 200 musicians from around the world, singing poems and prayers in 12 different languages.
Performers include legendary mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, the Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir, early music singers Anonymous 4, Iranian-born Sussan Deyhim, Portuguese fado singer Dulce Pontes, Chinese soprano Jia Ruhan, and Japanese pop singers Lia, Aoi Tada and Kaori Omura.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Richman, performed the orchestral accompaniment. The album was mixed and recorded by Grammy-winning engineer John Kurlander at Abbey Road Studios. The opening song "Baba Yetu" (a setting of the Lord's Prayer in Swahili, sung by the Soweto Gospel Choir) is well known to video game aficionados as the theme song to the popular game Civilization IV.
The award for "Baba Yetu" marks the first time ever that a piece of music written for a video game has received Grammy recognition.
The album, Calling All Dawns, can be downloaded in digital format at: http://www.christophertin.com
ABOUT RICHMAN
He is currently Music Director for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. Previously he served as a conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra between 1998-2004 and has appeared as guest conductor with numerous orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony and the Indianapolis Symphony. He has collaborated with leading film composers, conducting for film scores such as the Academy Award-nominated The Village (with violinist Hilary Hahn) and As Good As It Gets. Most recently, John Williams personally invited Richman to serve as conductor for the three-month national summer tour of Star Wars in Concert.
An accomplished composer as well, Richman has had his music performed by more than 200 orchestras in the last 10 years, and his works written specifically for children have been featured in young people's concerts by orchestras such as the Atlanta Symphony, the Houston Symphony and the Grand Rapids Symphony. "Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant," a setting of poems by Children's Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky, was most recently recorded by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra for an album soon to be released.
A listing of Richman's compositions can be found at www.ledorgroup.com.
For additional information: www.lucasrichman.com or www.grammy.com
