Tania León is receiving a special honor…

The 81-year-old Cuban composer, who renowned as a conductor, educator and advisor to arts organizations, is among the artists selected to receive lifetime achievement awards from the Recording Academy in 2025.

León will receive the Trustees Award at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony on February 1 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.

During her storied career, she has been commissioned by orchestras worldwide, held Carnegie Hall’s Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair for its 2023-24 season, and currently serves as composer-in-residence with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

She studied under Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa, and has guest-conducted the New York Philharmonic and Johannesburg Philharmonic, among others.

She has lectured globally and received honorary doctorate degrees from 10 institutions.

In 2010, León founded Composers Now, for which she currently serves as artistic director. She received her only Grammy nomination in 2013 — best contemporary classical composition for “Inura for Voices, Strings & Percussion.”

In 2021, she became the first Latin American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music.

She received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2022.

Trustees Awards are presented to individuals who have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording.