Stephen Sondheim to Receive the MacDowell Medal Lifetime Achievement Award

Even at 83, eight-time Tony-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim is still setting new records. Sondheim has been announced as the first-ever musical theater artist to receive the Edward MacDowell Medal for lifetime achievement in the arts, according to The New York Times. Sondheim will receive the medal at an August 11 ceremony in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

Sondheim has written music and lyrics for numerous Broadway shows including Follies, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Company, Into the Woods, Assassins, Sunday in the Park With George, Pacific Overtures and Merrily We Roll Along. His Tony-winning musical Passion is currently receiving its first New York revival off-Broadway. The composer is also currently collaborating with playwright David Ives (Venus in Fur) on a new musical. Sondheim is also the author of two best-selling books Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made a Hat.

The Edward MacDowell Medal is awarded each year by The MacDowell Colony to an artist who has made an outstanding contribution to his or her field. Previous recipients include Edward Albee, Joan Didion, Georgia O’Keeffe, Thorton Wilder and Lillian Hellman.

Edward MacDowell was an American composer and pianist who lived from 1860 through 1908.