In Brief: Watson honored with American Prize in Orchestral Performance

By Ryan Thornton
Office of Media Relations
January 26, 2016

Carolyn Watson, director of Texas State University’s Symphony Orchestra, has won the American Prize in Orchestral Performance in the arts high school orchestra division and is runner-up for the American Prize in Conducting in the high school orchestra division for 2015.

The American Prize is a series of peer-reviewed awards administered annually by Hat City Music Theater, Inc. The goal of the competitions is to recognize the best recorded performances across several divisions in the United States over the course of each year.

Watson was awarded the two prizes as director of the Academy Orchestra at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Mich., before being appointed director at Texas State. The orchestra performs many times yearly covering a variety of works from the symphonic repertoire, concerti and new music.

Watson has won many prestigious awards prior to the American Prize, including the 2013 Brian Stacey Award for emerging Australian conductors, the Sir Charles Mackerras Conducting Prize, the Opera Foundation Australia’s Bayreuth Opera Award and Berlin New Music Opera Award, and the Nelly Apt Conducting Scholarship. She is originally from Australia and earned her Ph.D. in performance (conducting) from the University of Sydney.