Sánchez won national awards for both solo piano and concerto performance, including recognition for his world-premiere performance of David M. Gordon’s “Fabular Arcana.”
Sánchez won national awards for both solo piano and concerto performance, including recognition for his world-premiere performance of David M. Gordon’s “Fabular Arcana.”
Paul Sánchez, associate professor of piano at Texas State University, has been named a two-time 2026 national winner of The American Prize, earning top honors in both concerto and solo piano performance.
The solo piano award recognized Sánchez’s premiere performances of three works by British composer Graham Lynch, all composed for Sánchez.
“The works resonate with me deeply,” Sánchez said, noting how “White Book 3” unites visual art and music, “Absolute Inwardness” connects philosophy and music, and “The Couperin Sketchbooks” collapse time and space in a dreamlike way.
His concerto win, The Lorin Hollander Award, recognized his performance of David M. Gordon’s “Fabular Arcana.” The recording was captured during the world premiere of the 40-minute concerto, performed by Sánchez with conductor David Gier and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.
“Learning the news brought an immediate smile to my face, along with a deep sense of humility and gratitude,” Sánchez said. “There are so many extraordinary artists performing today that I certainly never assumed an outcome like this.”
The project began when Gier, music director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, invited Sánchez to perform during the orchestra’s 100th anniversary season and gave him freedom to select the repertoire. Sánchez proposed commissioning a new piano concerto from Gordon, a longtime friend and collaborator.
The result was “Fabular Arcana,” a work for retuned piano and an orchestra featuring more than 80 percussion instruments.
“It is microtonal, wildly virtuosic, and intellectually demanding, filled with intricate metric modulations and complex polymetric structures,” Sánchez said. “It presents some of the most formidable technical and mental challenges I have ever encountered on stage.”
The composer, conductor, orchestra, and soloist had only a few rehearsals to prepare the work before its world premiere.
“The true hero of this award is the power of artistic collaboration,” Sánchez said. “Executing a brand-new, extraordinarily complex 40-minute score live on stage with minimal rehearsal time required absolute trust among the pianist, conductor, composer, and orchestral musicians.”
Sánchez and Will Liverman performing in Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center.
On a personal level, Sánchez noted that a shared faith and deep artistic trust among Gordon, Gier, and him grounded the entire endeavor.
Sánchez remains a 2026 national finalist in the professional categories of Chamber Music Performance and the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music in the soloist and composer division. Results in those categories are still pending.
Sánchez previously received second prize in The American Prize Charles Ives Award in Vocal Chamber Music for his original composition “NEFERTARI.”
His willingness to embrace creative risks in contemporary music has also led to other major professional milestones, including collaborations on two Grammy-nominated albums. That same philosophy shapes how he teaches and mentors students at TXST.
“My goal isn’t for students to copy my path or feel forced to become new-music specialists, but rather to inspire them to say ‘yes’ to bold, unconventional projects and explore possibilities beyond their current horizons,” Sánchez said.
For more information, contact:
TXST Office of Media Relations, 512-245-2180
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