And The Genius Award Goes To…

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has honored John Zorn, experimental composer/saxophonist, and Regina Carter, jazz violinist, with the 2006 MacArthur Fellowships, often referred to as "Genius Awards." The fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishment, but rather an investment in a person's originality, insight, and potential. There is a $500,000 award for each recipient, paid in quarterly installments over five years in order to support their own development as pioneering professionals in their respective fields. Zorn has long created inventive music that explores the spaces between and among genres, defying convention and redefining the experimental possibilities of musical performance. Carter's violin work marries conservatory training with a broad range of eclectic influences to invent a modern repertoire for the violin in contemporary and improvisational music.