for contributions to the arts
Two Yale faculty members are among this year's winners of Connecticut's 2000 Governor's Arts Award, which recognize artistic achievement and contributions to the arts.
J.D. McClatchy, lecturer in English and editor of The Yale Review, and Willie H. Ruff Jr., adjunct professor at the School of Music and a world-renowned bassist and French horn player, were selected by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts to receive the awards. The other award recipients are sculptor Elisabeth Gordon Chandler of Old Lyme, architect Philip Johnson of New Canaan and the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts in Torrington.
"Connecticut, as a state, has been blessed with many riches, and especially important among these treasures is our resident artists and cultural institutions," said Governor John G. Rowland in announcing this year's winners. "I am proud to present Governor's Awards for the year 2000 to these exceptional honorees who have contributed so much to the cultural vitality of our state."
Rowland will present the awards at a ceremony on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 4 p.m. at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut. The event is open to the public but seating is limited. For ticket information, contact the Connecticut Commission on the Arts at (860) 566-4770.
McClatchy is the author of four highly praised collections of poetry as well as literary essays, fiction and translations. Time magazine described his 1998 collection of poems, "Ten Commandments," as "a reputation-making wonder that isn't just the year's best book of poems, but may also turn out to be the year's best book." In the words of the Washington Times, McClatchy "makes poems that transcend the personal, sometimes magnificently ... he has a powerful imagination, and his use of language as an instrument is widely and deeply skilled."
McClatchy has also edited numerous books and audio tapes, and has played an increasingly prominent role as a librettist. His work regularly appears in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Paris Review, The New Republic and many other magazines, and operas featuring his libretti have been broadcast on public radio and television.
Ruff has performed with pianist Dwike Mitchell for 45 years as the Mitchell-Ruff Duo. Their collaboration has taken the pair to the corners of the globe, including groundbreaking tours to introduce modern jazz to the Soviet Union in 1959 and to the People's Republic of China in 1981. Ruff learned Russian and Chinese for his trips so he could personally lecture students on jazz in conservatories in Moscow, Shanghai and Peking.
Early in his academic career at Yale, Ruff created the Duke Ellington Fellowship to attract some of the world's greatest jazz musicians to New Haven. He has also lead visiting fellows such as Dizzy Gillespie, Eubie Blake and William Warfield into New Haven classrooms, where they have performed, lectured and served as role models. Over the years, an estimated 150,000 schoolchildren have had the opportunity to experience the artistry of noted jazz musicians and to learn about African-American cultural heritage through these sessions.
Ruff has also achieved commercial success. His French horn playing can be heard on film and television soundtracks and on classic recordings such as Miles Davis' orchestral albums. His writing has also garnered attention; his memoir, "A Call to Assembly," won the prestigious Deems Taylor ASCAP Award.
The Connecticut Commission on the Arts has recognized the achievements and contributions of exceptional state artists, organizations and businesses with awards since 1978. Among the 91 previous recipients are poet and former Yale faculty member Robert Penn Warren, performers Skitch Henderson and Victor Borge, author Wally Lamb, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and New Haven's Audubon Arts District.
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