Music has played an important role at the American Academy in Rome since 1921, when the first Rome Prize Fellowships were awarded in Musical Composition. The roster of Academy Fellows and Residents since then has mirrored the development of American music, including such prominent composers as Samuel Barber, Robert Beaser, Jack Beeson, Martin Bresnick, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, David Diamond, John Eaton, Lukas Foss, Alexei Haieff, Howard Hanson, John Harbison, Andrew Imbrie, Betsy Jolas, Ulysses Kay, Barbara Kolb, Salvatore Martirano, George Rochberg, Roger Sessions (photo at right), Harold Shapero, Randall Thompson, Charles Wuorinen, Yehudi Wyner and Ellen Taafe Zwilich, as well as many younger composers active today.

The formation of a music program at the American Academy in Rome was suggested as early as 1905 by composer Edward MacDowell, one of the Academy's original trustees, who hoped that "...the Arts of Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, and Music should come into such close contact that each and all should gain from this mutual companionship." MacDowell's proposal was brought to fruition only after the end of the First World War, when musical composition was added to the fields covered by the Arts at the Academy. One of the most vigorous proponents of the new music program at the Academy was Felix Lamond, organist, who became the first Professor of Music in Rome. In 1921, the Academy awarded the first Rome Prize in Musical Composition to Leo Sowerby, who was followed shortly thereafter by Howard Hanson and Randall Thompson. The first Residencies in Musical Composition, awarded to more senior composers, began in 1947 with awards to Samuel Barber and Douglas Stuart Moore.

Two annual Rome Prize Fellowships in Musical Composition are currently offered — the Frederic A. Juilliard/Walter Damrosch Rome Prize and the Samuel Barber Rome Prize - and an annual residency (the Paul Fromm Composer in Residence). Composers also participate in the Regional Visiting Artists Program and the Visiting Artists and Scholars Program. In addition, the Rome Prize Fellowships in Ancient Studies and in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies have supported the work of musicologists at the Academy.

The Academy's active concert program has long brought contemporary American classical music to Italian and American listeners. In the 1920s, the work of Academy composers was performed by the Augusteo, Rome's major orchestra, through the good auspices of the composer Ottorino Respighi. In 1934, when Samuel Barber won the Rome Prize in Musical Composition, NBC broadcast the announcement across the United States with a performance of one of Barber's own works. In 1950-51 the Academy began a long and fruitful relationship with the Radio Televisione Italiana Orchestra, locally known as Rome's RAI Orchestra. By the 1960s, RAI began regularly taping and broadcasting American music, and eventually over eighty works were heard by an international audience - over half of these compositions in first performance. The RAI series was also broadcast by WFLN in Philadelphia and over its associated stations throughout the United States in the mid-1980s.

The Academy's musical program in Rome is currently directed by composer-pianist Richard Trythall, FAAR '67, RAAR '71, the Academy's Music Liaison. This program includes the annual "Spring Concert" of chamber music composed by the Fellows in Musical Composition, as well as other concerts featuring American and Italian contemporary music. The Academy frequently collaborates with Roman musical organizations and each year hosts the opening day of concerts sponsored by "Nuova Consonanza," the leading contemporary music group in Rome.

Each composer at the Academy has a personal studio, equipped with a grand piano, as well as access to the Academy's Electronic Music Studio, which houses audio and computer equipment for listening and composing. The Electronic Music Studio also contains records, CDs, and a unique historical collection of tape recordings of Academy concerts from the early 1950s to the present. With the help of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the concert recordings were digitized in 2003 and cataloged in the URBS database. An index of these recordings has been made by Richard Trythall, Music Liaison, and an assortment of musical files and excerpts (in mp3 format) will soon be available. Musical excerpts taken from recent Academy "Spring Concerts" are found below. (Technical Note: Those with dial-up modem connections should first save this file, in order to listen to the selection more easily.)

Listen to the following recordings from the Fellows Spring Concert, May 27, 2006, Sala Aurelia.

• "Make-Falcon" (excerpt)
  Composer: Susan Botti, AAR Fellow in Musical Composition, 2005-2006
  Performers: University of Michigan Chamber Choir; Lucia Bova, harp; Riccardo Fassi, piano; Roland Vazquez and Mohsen Kasirossafar, percussion
  
• "Fast Break!" for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and pre-recorded sound (excerpt)
  Composer: Charles Norman Mason, AAR Fellow in Musical Composition, 2005-2006
  Performers: Freon Ensemble; Stefano Cardi, conductor
  
  

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