USC Thornton alumni shine at 68th Grammy Awards
By Sean David Christensen & Alexandra Fucheck
Thornton alumni take home top honors on music’s biggest night.
Last night at Crypto.com Arena in the heart of Los Angeles, global superstars from the music industry gathered for the biggest event of the year: the Grammy Awards. Whether celebrating their performance wins or recognizing their peers for their technical craft & accomplishments across an array of categories, one thing was clear: USC Thornton alumni were everywhere.
Capping off a thrilling awards season that brought Grammy Week to campus with two events from “Nina Simone: Beyond Category,” presented in partnership with the Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective, Thornton made a strong showing at last night’s awards ceremony. Now, it looks ahead.
From performing to composition to conducting, Thornton graduates represented the limitless future of music with their peerless dedication to craft and innovation that our school is renowned for, taking home six statuettes. Poised at the vanguard of an ever-expanding and evolving industry, the multi-hyphenated creatives of USC Thornton continue to raise the bar and set the standard for what’s next in music.
68th Annual Grammy Award winners
Alexander Lloyd Blake [with Tonality] (DMA ’19) – Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album for Nomadica by Carla Patullo
Sara Gazarek (BM ’04) – Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals for Big Fish by Nate Smith featuring Säje
Grant Gershon (BM ’85) – Chorus Master, Best Choral Performance for Ortiz: Yanga
Ludwig Göransson (GCRT ’08) – Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media & Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for Sinners
Austin Wintory (BM ’07) – Composer, Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media for Sword of the Sea
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In addition, many Thornton alumni provided invaluable contributions to award-winning projects, including:
Noah Ehler (BM ‘22 – Popular Music Performance) as producer on GNX – Best Rap Album by Kendrick Lamar
Peter Lee Johnson (BM ‘13 – Popular Music Performance) as songwriter on MUTT – Best R&B Album by Leon Thomas
Aron Forbes (BM ‘07 – Studio Guitar) as mixing engineer on “WILDFLOWER” – Song of the Year by Billie Eilish
*We strive to include all awarded current and former students, faculty, staff, and alumni in our write-up. If you or someone you know from the Thornton community should be mentioned, please do not hesitate to contact us so that we may add their name to our list of winners.
Featured photo credit: USC Thornton Screen Scoring alumnus Ludwig Göransson (GCRT ‘08), winner of the 68th Annual Grammy Awards for “Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media” and “Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media“ for Sinners, directed by USC School of Cinematic Arts alumnus Ryan Coogler. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
