February 27th, 2026 — Congratulations to Katherine Balch (CRF 2021), Ashkan Behzadi (CRF 2021), Texu Kim (CRF 2019), and Steven Kazuo Takasugi (CRF 2017) who have each been awarded 2026 Music Awards from the The American Academy of Arts and Letters!
Katherine Balch, Ashkan Behzadi, and Texu Kim will receive Arts and Letters Awards that acknowledge composers who have arrived at their own voice and fund the recording of a work. A concert with works by all three composers will be performed in the Arts and Letters Library as part of Arts and Letters Salon Concert Series.
Steven Kazuo Takasugi is the recipient of the Otto and Catherine Brunson Luening Award, for composers who have not yet been accorded due recognition. The music awards will be presented to the four Civitellians and 16 other recipients alongside the architecture, art, and literature awards at Arts and Letters’s annual Ceremonial in May.
Founded in 1898, the American Academy of Arts and Letters represents the highest standards of artistic achievement in the United States.
Learn more at artsandletters.org.