Composer Jaylin Vinson will bring a new piece of music to life on Manasota Key after winning the 2026 Hermitage Prize in Composition, the first year the award includes a paid commission alongside the residency at the Sarasota County retreat.
The Hermitage Artist Retreat and the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) announced the prize on Monday, Aug. 17. The award is now valued at $10,000, including a $5,000 commission paid directly to Vinson. The remaining funds cover his fellowship, residency and a public program at the Hermitage's nine-acre campus on Manasota Key.
It's the first commission in the prize's 13-year history.
A 13-Year Partnership, One Student Slot
Vinson is the 13th recipient of the annual prize, which launched in 2013 as a partnership between the two institutions. It is the only student residency the Hermitage awards each year; all other fellows are working professionals.
"As a composer, I work within a fundamentally time-based art form, so receiving the gift of time at the Hermitage Artist Retreat is not one I take for granted," Vinson said in a statement. "I am beaming with anticipation, thinking of the new work and the relationships that will grow out of my own time there."
Announcement Made at Aspen Music Festival
Hermitage artistic director and CEO Andy Sandberg presented the award at the Aspen Music Festival's Klein Tent, alongside AMFS President Alan Fletcher and Grammy Award-winning composer Christopher Theofanidis. The commission was formally announced the next day at a reception hosted by donors Marsha and David Dowler, where Vinson's piece "Carpe Diem" debuted with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble.
A Rising Career at Juilliard and Beyond
Vinson, a Juilliard master's student and Kovner Fellow, has had compositions performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. His one-act opera "Future of Dreams," commissioned by Washington National Opera, premiered at the Kennedy Center in January 2025. His recent work "Dark Matter," an Afrofuturistic flute concerto, was commissioned by Performing Arts Houston.
Under the commission, Vinson will develop an original composition during his residency at the Hermitage before its world premiere with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble in 2027.
About the Hermitage Campus
The Hermitage campus, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, dates to 1907 and sits at the southern tip of Sarasota County. Its fellows have included 20 Pulitzer Prize winners and multiple Grammy, Oscar, Emmy and Tony winners. The first Hermitage Prize winner, Patrick Harlin, met visual artist Anne Patterson during his 2013 residency; their decade-long collaboration led to the exhibition "The Truth of the Night Sky" at the Sarasota Art Museum in fall 2024.
Specific dates for Vinson's Sarasota County residency have not been announced. The Hermitage's "Sunsets at Selby Gardens" series opens its seventh season on Friday, Oct. 16 at the Downtown Sarasota campus at 5:30 p.m., with additional programs scheduled through May 2027.
