Francisco J. Núñez (born 1965

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is an American conductor,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, and the Director of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. Núñez founded the Young People's Chorus in 1988 "to provide children of all ethnic, religious, and economic backgrounds with a safe haven for personal and artistic growth." He is a 2011

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...

Life

Núñez was born in

, and grew up in the

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and New York's Washington Heights neighborhood. He graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

in 1988 with a B.S. in

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performance. Núñez is the recipient of numerous awards in addition to the

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...

, including a 2009 ASCAP Concert Music Award, the 2009

New York Choral Society New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

’s Choral Excellence Award, and the 2005 Liberty Award from the

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. He is a member of

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

. Núñez founded an annual festival called Transient Glory in 2001. Transient Glory features original compositions created expressly for YPC by award-winning composers such as Paquito D'Rivera. The Transient Glory festival has been performed at leading New York City music venues such as

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. Núñez also leads the University Glee Club of New York City, its fifth conductor since the all-men’s choir was established in 1894. He served as the director of choral activities at New York University from 2003 to 2010. Núñez served as conductor of the 2011

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Middle School Honors Chorus. Núñez wrote a piece entitled 'Forever Is My Song' for the event. On May 19, 2014, Núñez was awarded the NYU Steinhardt Distinguished Alumni Award (and received a tie custom designed for NYU by Salvatore Ferragamo). Núñez is married to Elizabeth McKinney and has two children, Sebastian and Sabrina.

References

External links

Official website
''PBS Newshour'', Jeffrey Brown, September 23, 2011

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunez, Francisco MacArthur Fellows American male conductors (music) Musicians from New York City Living people 1965 births 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American male musicians American choral conductors Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni