Sondheim wins prestigious MacDowell medal

[April 01, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Stephen Sondheim has won one of the top honors in the arts world, the Edward MacDowell Medal for lifetime achievement.

The MacDowell Colony, the New Hampshire-based artist residency program, announced Sunday that Sondheim has received an award that has been given to Robert Frost and Georgia O'Keeffe among others. The 83-year-old Sondheim is known for such classic musicals as "A Little Night Music" and "Into the Woods."

He will accept the medal at an August ceremony.

In a statement issued through the MacDowell Colony, Sondheim called the award a "sort of homecoming," noting that as a child he used to play compositions by the man for whom the medal and colony are named. Edward MacDowell, who died in 1908, was known for such pieces as "To a Wild Rose."

[Associated Press]

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