The 2025 GRAMMY nominations announced on Nov. 8 included Professor and Coordinator of Sound Recording Technology Bernd Gottinger.
In the category of Best Classical Compendium, Professor Gottinger was nominated as producer of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of Lukas Foss’ “Symphony No. 1; Renaissance Concerto; Three American Pieces; Ode.”
He was also engineer and producer of the Buffalo Philharmonic’s performance of Zoltán Kodály’s “Háry János Suite,” which was nominated for Best Orchestra Performance.
Both nominated performances were conducted by Music Director JoAnn Falletta. Fredonia School of Music faculty including trombonist Jonathan Lombardo and head of trumpet Alex Jokipii are members of the orchestra.
School of Music Sound Recording Technology alumnus Randy Merrill, ’97, was nominated for four 2025 GRAMMYs, including mastering engineer for Record of the Year for Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck Babe!” and for Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone. He was also nominated in the category of Album of the Year as mastering engineer for Roan’s “Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” and for Swift’s “Tortured Poets Department.”
Merrill graduated from Falconer Central High School in 1992, went on to study at Jamestown Community College and graduated from Fredonia’s Sound Recording Technology program in 1997. To date, he has 29 GRAMMY nominations and eight wins.
SUNY Fredonia Sound Recording Technology alumnus John Kerswell, ’88, was engineer, along with nominees David Frost and mastering engineer Silas Brown, on the entries for Best Opera Recording, Kevin Puts’ “The Hours,” featuring conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Joyce DiDonato, Kelli O’Hara, Renée Fleming, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus; and Daniel Catán’s “Florencia En El Amazonas,” again with Nézet-Séguin, Mario Chang, Michael Chioldi, Greer Grimsley, Nancy Fabiola Herrera, Mattia Olivieri, Ailyn Pérez and Gabriella Reyes, and the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra.
Dean of the School of Music David Stringham noted, “Chappell Roan, JoAnn Falletta, Post Malone, Renée Fleming, Taylor Swift, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin are respected as performing musicians who are shaping ways people engage in, around, and through music. We are honored that faculty and alumni musicians from our campus are these distinguished artists’ collaborators, and congratulate Bernd, John, and Randy on this well-deserved recognition of their work.”
The GRAMMY awards broadcast is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles.
