Two University of Michigan professors recently earned the music industry’s top honors at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards, held in mid February.

Amy Ku’uleialoha Stillman (photo left) won her second Grammy for Best Hawaiian Music Album  as co-producer along with Daniel Ho for the CD “Huana Ke Aloha” sung by Tia Carrere.

Stillman co-produced and collaborated on the project as lyricist and accompanist. Stillman has been nominated for three Grammys, and also won the award in 2009 for Best Hawaiian Music album for “Ikena.”

A native Hawaiian, historian and teacher of hula, Stillman is an ethnomusicologist and the leading scholar of the indigenous poetic, dance, and song tradition of Hawaii. Her collaboration as mele lyricist in this award-winning work resonates with her reclamation and recovery project.

Stillman is an associate professor in U-M’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts’ American Culture program. She is also an associate professor of musicology in U-M’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Among top American composers

Michael Daugherty won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition for his three-part homage to trains, “Deus Ex Machina,” recorded by the Nashville Symphony on his “Metropolis Symphony” CD.

The album also received Grammys for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Album in the classical music category. Daugherty is a professor of composition in the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

To read a Montage profile on Daugherty written by Betsy Goolian, please visit DAUGHERTY PROFILE

To read a National Public Radio story on Daugherty, please visit NPR story, Dec. 10, 2010