Efrain Amaya, director and conductor of the Minot Symphony Orchestra and an associate professor of music at Minot State University, has been awarded an artist fellowship by the North Dakota Council on the Arts.

The Individual Artist Fellowship program recognizes established artists residing in North Dakota with a monetary award. This program is designed to support professional artists with outstanding talent and ability to improve their artistic skills and enhance their career opportunities. Fellowships for theater, dance and folk/traditional artists will be awarded in 2023.

Michael Wittgraf, University of North Dakota at Grand Forks Music Department Chair, was also awarded a fellowship.

As part of the fellowship, Amaya will compose a “cycle of songs” for voice and piano. The idea was inspired by North Dakota’s four seasons. Amaya explained, “the work will provide a new and unique musical experience or perspective on the climate and passage of time, where people flourish in strength and remain relatively remote because of one of those seasons: winter.” The songs will premiere in the spring of 2023 in Minot, then in Grand Forks and possibly other locales.

“My career as a musician has developed between orchestral conducting and the art of music composition,” said Amaya. “In 2015 I was appointed director and conductor of the Minot Symphony Orchestra which has brought very new perspectives and experiences into my life. I could say that I am in a mature phase of this work, and I enjoy tremendously the challenge of creating new and unexpected pieces.”

Michael Wittgraf, University of North Dakota at Grand Forks Music Department Chair, was also awarded a fellowship.