Libby Larsen wins Peabody Medal

Libby Larsen, who helped found the Minnesota Composers Forum (now known as the American Composers Forum), will receive the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music in America.

Larsen joins James Levine, music director of the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony, as recipients this year, when the award is made Thursday during graduation ceremonies at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Larsen lives in Minneapolis. She studied under Domnick Argento at the University of Minnesota and has written more than 400 pieces of music, including 12 operas.

She is a past Grammy winner and more than 50 CDs have included her work. Past winners of the Peabody Medeal include Leonard Bernstein, Wynton Marsalis, Philip Glass and Quincy Jones.