University of Richmond music professor Benjamin Broening awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

University of Richmond music professor Benjamin Broening has been selected a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow, the prestigious award given annually to up to 200 men and women who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.

Guggenheim fellowships provide financial support that gives recipients the blocks of time needed to work with as much creative freedom as possible. Out of nearly 3,000 applicants this year, only 175 fellowships were awarded.

During the fellowship period, Broening will compose two works for chamber orchestra, "What the Light Was Like" and "September Light." The compositions will complete a cycle of pieces titled "What the Light Was Like that musically explores the connections between light, place and memory. The Oberlin Contemporary Music Group will debut Broening's compositions in concert and then record them.

Broening has taught at the university since 1999, after completing his Ph.D. in music composition and theory at the University of Michigan. University of Richmond's Grammy Award-winning ensemble-in-residence, eighth blackbird, recorded Broening's chamber music composition "Trembling Air" in fall 2012. Broening is the founder of Third Practice, an annual festival of music that incorporates technology. He is a past Fulbright Scholar to Estonia, where he taught electroacoustic music composition. He was recently named chair of Richmond's music department.