Composer Douglas Knehans is the latest recipient of the Wachtmeister Award, a prestigious fellowship awarded by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA). This distinguished prize acknowledges the vital role of the arts in our world, the importance of artists who exemplify excellence in their field, and the necessity of time and space for the creative phase of all artistic work.

Awarded every two years, the Wachtmeister Award rotates among writers, visual artists, and composers. This year’s award was open to established composers and sound artists who have made substantial achievements over at least 15 years. The selection process was led by Martin Hundley and Joelle Wallach of the VCCA Fellows Council’s Wachtmeister Committee, with three renowned composers serving as anonymous jurors. The committee highlighted the engaging expressiveness of Knehans’s music, its beautiful melodies and harmonies, and his command of musical syntax as key factors in his selection.