When Alarm Will Sound took their seats at the 68th Grammy Awards, there was a quiet optimism in the air. After 25 years of dedication, experimentation, and collective risk-taking, this felt like a moment that had been a long time coming. Their first Grammy nomination would become their first win—an affirmation not only of a single album, but of an ensemble built patiently, lovingly, over decades.

“I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve,” says trombonist Michael Clayville ’00E. “So, it’s been overwhelming and absolutely incredible.” In the days following the win, Clayville found himself reflecting less on trophies than on time—on where the ensemble began, and how far it had traveled. “It’s made me think a lot about Eastman, about my time as a student,” he says. “We were just kids hanging out at Eastman School of Music. We loved making music together, staying awake until 11 o’clock to squeeze in extra rehearsal time. I never imagined this was in our future.”

Although officially formed at Eastman in 2001, Alarm Will Sound is an idea that had been germinating for several years. Today, the 22-person ensemble still bears the imprint of its origins and includes many Eastman graduates, among them Clayville; Alan Pierson ’06E (DMA); Christa Robinson ’00E; Bill Kalinkos ’03E; Elisabeth Stimpert ’99E (MM), ’01E (MM); Michael Harley ’11E (DMA); John Orfe ’99E, ’99; Courtney Orlando ’01E (MA), ’03E (DMA); Stefan Freund ’99E (MM), ’02E (DMA); Miles Brown ’00E, ’12E (DMA); Gavin Chuck ’96E (MA), ’04E (PhD); and Peter Ferry ’13E. They are joined by Andrew Griffen, Chris Thompson, Daniel Neumann, Erin Lesser, Jason Varvaro, Laura Weiner, Matt Smallcomb, Nigel Maister (Russell and Ruth Peck Artistic Director of the University of Rochester’s International Theatre Program), Patti Kilroy, and Tim Leopold, who arrived at Alarm Will Sound from different paths at different times.

GRAMMY WINNERS: Many members of Alarm Will Sound were in the audience at the 68th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, CA. Pictured, from left to right, back row: *Peter Ferry, *Christa Robinson, Yousef Ali, *Michael Clayville, Erin Lesser, *Gavin Chuck, *Alan Pierson, *Stefan Freund, *John Orfe, Tim Leopold, and *Courtney Orlando. Front row: *Bill Kalinkos, *Miles Brown, *Michael Harley, and composer Donnacha Dennehy. *Indicates Eastman alumni. Photo by Paul Melnikow.

BEYOND COMPARISON: Gavin Chuck and Alan Pierson accept the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance award onstage. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

For composer and executive director Gavin Chuck, who accepted the golden gramophone award onstage alongside artistic director and conductor Alan Pierson, the moment arrived with a sense of calm conviction: “My gut said, we’re gonna win this thing.” The feeling wasn’t bravado, he says, but trust—trust forged through 25 years of shared work. “Knowing how much this album deserved it, but also how much our 25 years of work deserved that recognition.”

That album, Land of Winter, sits at the heart of Alarm Will Sound’s Grammy win. Written by Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy and recorded at the University of Chicago’s Logan Center, the piece is a 12-movement, through-composed work inspired by the ancient Roman name for Ireland—Hibernia, or “land of winter.” The movements flow seamlessly, each corresponding to a month of the year, beginning in December and ending as winter returns.

The album was named one of The New York Times’ Best Classical Music Albums of 2025, praised for its “glinting high harmonics” and “subtle energy.” The Grammy win extended that recognition to the broadest cultural stage—something Chuck sees as vital. “The fact that contemporary classical music is recognized at this level is important,” he says. “We’re standing on the same stage as so many different kinds of music. That visibility matters.”

“Winning the Grammy last week was an experience beyond all comparison, and I am still reeling from it,” says Pierson. “It was particularly meaningful to be there with so many of the Alarm Will Sound members that I’ve been building this community with for the last 25 years.

Following the win, Chuck, too, is reminded of Eastman and the environment that shaped Alarm Will Sound from the start. In the mid-1990s, Eastman fostered what he describes as grassroots, student-led culture. “It felt possible to make something ourselves,” he says. That ethos—DIY, collaborative, unafraid—carried forward as members prepared to leave Eastman and realized the need to build something lasting beyond it.

What began at Eastman as a willingness to say yes—to ideas, collaborations, and risk—has, over 25 years, taken on a shape of its own. The Grammy marks a moment of recognition along that arc, and this October, Alarm Will Sound will bring the story full circle, returning to Eastman to launch New Acoustica, a radical new project that looks forward while remaining rooted in the values that first set the ensemble in motion.

*The featured image of Alarm Will Sound performing music from Land of Winter at the Irish Arts Center in New York is credited to Nir Arieli.