Photo by Micah Gleason.
The Department of Music is pleased to share that alum Hannah Edgar (AB'18, Music) was awarded the 2026 William Littler Prize for Music Criticism. Edgar received the award for their review of a concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and pianist Yunchan Lim, which was published in the Chicago Tribune in December 2025.
The William Littler Prize for Music Criticism is awarded annually by the Music Critics Association of North America in recognition of excellence in writing by younger critics in the areas of concert music and opera. The prize is named after, and supported by, William Littler, who wrote for the Toronto Star from 1966 to 2022 and is a longtime member of MCANA. Award winners receive $1000, republication of their winning entry in Classical Voice North America, and one year of membership in the Music Critics Association of North America.
The jury was comprised of former MCANA presidents Barbara Jepson, Nancy Malitz, and Donald Rosenberg. Nancy Malitz (a fellow UChicago alum) praised Edgar's “strong talent for writing, advance study of the repertoire, lively enthusiasm, and no little musical insight.”
Edgar, a freelance journalist, radio producer, editor, and researcher, writes for outlets like The Chicago Tribune, WBEZ, VAN Magazine, the Chicago Reader, Musical America, and The New York Times, and regularly contributes to ARTnews, The University of Chicago Magazine, and Tone Glow.
Edgar says their experience at UChicago has deeply informed their work in music criticism: "When it came time to pick a college, I knew two things: I wanted a well-rounded education, studying subjects I wouldn't normally gravitate toward, and I wanted to be close to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The University of Chicago informs my entire approach to criticism: Everything has to do with everything; nothing happens in a vacuum; and the sounds of our world always reverberate in our concert halls, if only we're curious enough to hear them."