Distinguished Professor Emerita and celebrated composer Tania León became the first woman to win the SGAE Tomás Luis de Victoria Ibero-American Music Award. The award, in its 19th edition, recognizes León’s contribution to the enrichment of the musical heritage of the Ibero-American peoples through their creative work. It is considered the highest public recognition for a living composer from the Ibero-American community. León taught at Brooklyn College for 35 years until her retirement in 2019. She was the director of music composition in the school’s Conservatory of Music and was the first faculty member in any of the City University of New York (CUNY) colleges to receive the prestigious Kennedy Center award (2022). She was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her work “Stride” in 2021, a piece commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to commemorate the centennial of women’s voting rights. In 2018 she was named a USA Fellow and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
