Congratulations to Soundings artist Raven Chacon on winning the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his work Voiceless Mass! Javier C. Hernández covered the win in The New York Times, writing, "at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when the world around him turned quiet and still, the composer Raven Chacon went to work. Inspired by the silence of days spent in lockdown, he began writing Voiceless Mass, a 16-minute work for ensemble and pipe organ. Chacon, 44, a memeber of the Navajo Nation who lives in Albuquerque, set out to use the sounds of the organ, accompanied by winds, strings and percussion, to explore themes of power and oppression."
Reflecting on Voiceless Mass, Chacon shared, "I hope it gets performed more," he said. "It's always been a challenge to make this kind of work accessible to people who can't enter these spaces, either because of monetary barriers, or just because they feel they aren't the audience for classical music."
