2012 GREENFIELD PRIZE WINNER | Vijay Iyer
The 2012 Greenfield Prize has been awarded to pianist/composer Vijay Iyer. Mr. Iyer was selected by a jury consisting ofLinda Golding, founder of The Reservoir and former President/CEO of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, U.S.A.; Jennifer Koh, concert violinist; and Limor Tomer, manager of concerts and lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as voting members. Derek Han, associate artistic director of Sarasota's La Musica International Chamber Music Festival, Joni Greenfield of the Greenfield Foundation, Hermitage Executive Director Bruce E. Rodgers, and Patricia Caswell, Greenfield Prize director served on the jury as non-voting members.

2012 KEYNOTE SPEAKER | Robert Spano
Robert Spano is one of the brightest and most imaginative conductors of his generation. As Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, he has enriched and expanded its repertoire and elevated the ensemble to new levels of international prominence. In 2012, Robert Spano becomes Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School and is also a Fellow of the Aspen Institute as part of the Harman-Eisner Artist in Residence Program.

Spano's 2011-2012 engagements include appearances with Seattle Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony and Orchestra of St. Luke's. Respected as a collaborative pianist and composer, Spano joins bass-baritone Eric Owens for three recitals in Denver, CO, Davis, CA and Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in New York. Maestro Spano conducts the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra as well as the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in Philadelphia and at the Dresden Music Festival. Spring 2011 marks the third, and final, year of Spano's three-year residency at Emory University, a testament to Spano's communicative abilities and passion for education. In its 165-year history, Emory University has honored only seven other individuals with such expansive residencies, including the Dalai Lama, President Jimmy Carter and author Salman Rushdie.

Robert Spano opens the Atlanta Symphony's 2011-2012 season September 22 and in October conducts the U.S. premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Nyx in both Atlanta and New York's Carnegie Hall. Mr. Spano conducts three world premieres in Atlanta this season; an ASO commission by Atlanta School of Composers member Adam Schoenberg and works by Alvin Singleton and Marcus Roberts. Mr. Spano oversees two Theater of a Concert performances: Bach's St. Matthew Passion and John Adams' A Flowering Tree.

With a discography of 16 critically-acclaimed recordings for Telarc and Deutsche Grammophon, Robert Spano has garnered six Grammy Awards. In February 2011, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Naxos created ASO Media and the label's first recording was released in April 2011.

Musical America's 2008 "Conductor of the Year," Mr. Spano is on the faculty of Oberlin Conservatory, and has received honorary doctorates from Bowling Green State University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University, and Oberlin.