Brooklyn College Reveals Inaugural Appointment for New Tania León Chair of Music

Brooklyn College and its School of Visual Media and Performing Arts has revealed the Tania León Chair of Music, their first-ever endowed chair in music. The position was funded by The Tow Foundation and named in honor of León, who taught at Brooklyn College beginning in 1985, became Tow Distinguished Professor at Brooklyn College in 2000, and retired as Professor Emeritus in 2019. The inaugural incumbent will be conductor and educator Malcolm J. Merriweather, who has taught at the College since 2015 and will assume the chair position in the Fall of 2024, with the endowment supporting his teaching, research, and mentorship to nurture diverse talent.

The new position will be celebrated as part of a larger event on March 28, with Tania León in conversation with Brooklyn College President Michelle J. Anderson, as well as a performance by Merriweather of a work by León.

The Chair honors León's many accomplishments and contributions to the arts. She won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in music, in 2022 she received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime artistic achievements, and in 2023 she was awarded the Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition from Northwestern University. She currently serves as an honorary chair for the Recording Academy’s Songwriters & Composers Wing, a member of the Board of Directors for the New York Philharmonic and ASCAP Foundation, Composer-in-Residence for the London Philharmonic Orchestra for their 2023-25 seasons, and Carnegie Hall’s Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair for its 2023-2024 season.

"It is a great honor to have the first ever chair in music at Brooklyn College endowed in my name," said Tania León of the new position. "This extraordinary school has been both a haven and an inspiration for me for over thirty years, and it offers the best of what music and the arts can be: powerful, relevant, innovative, and reflective of the diversity of our great city. It gives me tremendous hope for the future to know that this position will help support singular talents like Malcolm J. Merriweather, in both their teaching and their creative pursuits."

Michelle J. Anderson said: "Tania Leon represents the best of Brooklyn College and our School of Visual Media and Performing Arts. She is an immigrant who has risen to pursue her creative passion at the highest levels on the international stage. Her work and her story are a powerful reflection of our mission, and we are thrilled that The Tow Foundation has endowed this chair in her name, so that her legacy benefits generations of Brooklyn College students to come."

Malcolm J. Merriweather currently serves as Director of the New York Philharmonic Chorus and Music Director of The Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra, and his acclaimed world premiere recordings have been nominated for a GRAMMYTM Award. He was the founding Artistic Director of “Voices of Haiti,” a 60-member children’s choir in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, operated by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation.

"I am honored beyond words to be named as the inaugural Tania León Chair of Music," said Merriweather. "Tania is a gift, both for her singular music-making and her irrepressibly joyful presence, and her unwavering commitment to mentoring the next generation of talent. I look forward to building upon the extraordinary example she has set, and using this opportunity to develop new ways to guide and support the musical voices of the future."

Said Dr. Leonard Tow ’50, of The Tow Foundation: "The Tania León Chair will forever recognize and honor Tania's unmatched legacy at Brooklyn College and in the larger world.”