SUNY Fredonia alumni among 2024 GRAMMY winners
Alumni Randy Merrill (left) and Charlie Post at the 2024 GRAMMYs (Photo by Getty Images for the Recording Academy®)
SUNY Fredonia School of Music alumni Randy Merrill, ’97, won a GRAMMY as mastering engineer for his work on “Midnights” by Taylor Swift for Album of the Year, and Charlie Post, ’98, won with David Frost in the category of the Best Engineered Album, Classical, for “Contemporary American Composers,” by Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Merrill received a second nomination for Album of the Year as mastering engineer for “GUTS,” by Olivia Rodrigo.
In the category of Record of the Year, Merrill was nominated as mastering engineer for “What Was I Made For?” [From The Motion Picture "Barbie"] by Billie Eilish, “Vampire” by Rodrigo and for Swift’s “Anti-Hero.”
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 26 GRAMMY nominations and nine wins.
“We are honored to count Charlie and Randy among our alumni, and wish them continued success.” - Dean of the School of Music David Stringham
Post, who majored in Sound Recording Technology and in Music-Applied while at SUNY Fredonia, has had three GRAMMY nominations and three wins.
Dean of the School of Music David Stringham lauded the newest GRAMMY winners, “Every day, Fredonia School of Music alumni make remarkable contributions to their communities, within and beyond classrooms, concert halls, and recording studios. Whether you gravitate toward Taylor Swift or Chicago Symphony Orchestra — or both! — I hope you'll join me in congratulating Randy Merrill and Charlie Post on the GRAMMY awards that their collaborations garnered. We are honored to count Charlie and Randy among our alumni, and wish them continued success.”
There was another great connection to SUNY Fredonia among the winners. Nicole Zuraitis, who recently was a guest artist for the Fredonia Jazz Festival in October 2023 and performed with the Fredonia Jazz Orchestra in Rosch Recital Hall during her visit, won a GRAMMY in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Album for “How Love Begins.”
