Leadership, faculty and alumni of the Frost School of Music were nominated for the 2025 GRAMMY® awards. Heading the list is Dean Shelton G. Berg, who received his eighth GRAMMY® nomination for Best Instrumental Composition for “At Last,” an original composition on his recently released album “Alegría.”
“It is exciting and also very touching to receive a GRAMMY® nomination for a composition that meant so much to me to write,” Berg said. “I am thrilled that the real-life feelings I poured into “At Last” moved listeners to put a checkmark on their ballots.”
“Alegría,” (“joy” in Spanish), which reviews praised as “virtuosic” and “buoyant,” blends orchestration and improvisation on original tracks by Berg and classics by Leonard Bernstein and the Beatles. This is Berg’s first GRAMMY® nomination for composition. The renowned composer, pianist, and musical director was joined on “Alegría” by Frost School faculty Dafnis Prieto, the MacArthur Genius Award-winning drummer and musician; and saxophonist and musicology associate professor Melvin L. Butler; as well as celebrated bassist Carlos del Puerto.
Maestro Gerard Schwarz, Distinguished Professor of Conducting and Orchestral Studies and Music Director of the Frost Symphony Orchestra (FSO), shares in the nomination for Best Opera Recording. Schwarz conducted the Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s performance of Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s opera “The Shining,” based on the classic Stephen King horror novel. (Schwarz commissioned Moravec, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, and longtime colleague, to create a work for the FSO’s March 29 performance for the centennial composition series celebrating the Frost School’s 100th anniversary.)
Frost School lecturer and renowned Cuban-born jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Brazilian mandolinist Hamilton de Holanda’s “Collab” was nominated for Best Latin Jazz Recording. Rooted in the pair’s shared African musical ancestry and their rich national music traditions, “Collab” received effusive reviews from numerous music publications. This is the 11th GRAMMY® nomination for Rubalcaba, a master of Cuban and Afro-Cuban jazz who has won three GRAMMYS® and has two additional nominations as an ensemble leader.
Two Frost School alumni also shared nominations. Jazz saxophonist Troy Roberts, M.M. ’07, an in-demand musician who’s performed with multiple famed artists, including Aretha Franklin, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and fellow Frost School alumna and jazz vocalist Veronica Swift, and a former lecturer at the Frost School, is featured on the Dan Pugach Big Band’s “Little Fears,” nominated for Best Jazz Performance. This is Roberts’ third GRAMMY nomination.
Jack Manning, who got his bachelor’s in music engineering from the Frost School in 2020, is part of the team nominated for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for new pop phenom Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet.” The hit album’s multiple GRAMMY nominations included nods for all four major categories: Best New Artist and Album, Record, and Song of the Year. Carpenter will also perform on the awards show.
The 67th edition of music’s biggest night takes place at 8 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 2.
