Tag: awards

Mason Bates Among Winners of 18th Annual Heinz Awards

Posted on September 12, 2012 by - Headlines, Ledes

Mason Bates

Mason Bates

Mason Bates is among the winners of the 18th annual Heinz Awards, an honor which includes an unrestricted cash prize of $250,000. At 35, Bates—a composer noted for his integration of classical music with DJ culture and the use of electronics in his symphonic work—is one of the youngest-ever recipients of the award.

In addition to Bates, who was recognized for his contributions to the arts and humanities, this year’s Heinz Awards winners include Richard J. Jackson (environment), Freeman Hrabowski, III (human condition), KC Golden (public policy), and Jay Keasling (technology, the economy and employment).

Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation which bestows the awards, noted, “While others focus on what we can no longer do, these five focus on what we can do and have redefined the limits of possibility in spheres ranging from music to medicine, science, the environment and education. They embody the best in all of us and the promise for a brighter future.”

Established by Teresa Heinz in 1993 to honor the memory of her late husband, U.S. Senator John Heinz, the Heinz Awards celebrate the accomplishments and spirit of the Senator by recognizing the extraordinary achievements of individuals in the areas of greatest importance to him.

Nominations are submitted by invited experts, who serve anonymously, and are reviewed by jurors appointed by the Heinz Family Foundation. Award recipients are ultimately selected by the Board of Directors.

In addition to the monetary award, recipients are presented with a medallion inscribed with the image of Senator Heinz on one side and a rendering of a globe passing between two hands on the other. The Heinz Awards will be presented at a ceremony in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 11. More information about the Heinz Awards and the recipients is available here.

Cheung and Shepherd Share In Kravis Prize at NYPhil

Posted on June 27, 2012 by - Headlines, Ledes

Anthony Cheung (Photo by Beowulf Sheehan) and Sean Shepherd (Photo by Jamie Kingham)

Anthony Cheung (Photo by Beowulf Sheehan) and Sean Shepherd (Photo by Jamie Kingham)

Anthony Cheung, French composer Franck Krawczyk, and Hungarian composer/conductor Peter Eötvös will share in the 2011 Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music at the New York Philharmonic at the request of inaugural recipient Henri Dutilleux, the New York Philharmonic has announced. In addition, Sean Shepherd has been named the 2012 Kravis Emerging Composer.

The Kravis Prize for New Music is bestowed every two years “for extraordinary artistic endeavor in the field of new music,” and French composer Henri Dutilleux was named the first recipient in 2011. At the award ceremony held in Paris on December 7, 2011, Dutilleux announced that he would share the $200,000 award with three composers, each of whom would write a work to be performed by the orchestra in his honor. Dates of the performances of these new works will be announced at a later time.

A Kravis Emerging Composer is to be named in years when the Kravis Prize for New Music is not awarded. The “promising up-and-coming” composer will receive $50,000 and an opportunity to write for the orchestra. As the 2012 Kravis Emerging Composer, Sean Shepherd will write a new work for the Philharmonic to be performed in the 2013–14 season.

Funding for The Kravis Prize for New Music comes from a $10 million gift given to the New York Philharmonic in 2009 by Henry R. Kravis in honor of his wife, Marie-Josée, for whom the prize is named, and which also endows The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, a position currently held by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg and soon to be held by Christopher Rouse. Prizewinners are selected by a committee comprising leading artists and administrators with close ties to the Philharmonic and a demonstrated interest in fostering new music. The total award—$200,000 to the winner of The Kravis Prize for New Music and $50,000 to the Kravis Emerging Composer—makes this among the world’s largest new music prizes.

(—from the press release)

24 Orchestras Receive ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming

Posted on June 8, 2012 by - Headlines, Ledes

Twenty-four American orchestras received 2011-12 ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming at the League of American Orchestras’ 67th Annual Conference in Dallas. ASCAP and the League present the awards each year to orchestras of all sizes “for programs that challenge the audience, build the repertoire, and increase interest in music of our time.”

This year’s winners are:

2011-12 ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming

John S. Edwards Award for Strongest Commitment to New American Music
South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, Delta David Gier, Music Director

Morton Gould Award for Innovative Programming
San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director

Leonard Bernstein Award for Educational Programming
Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä, Music Director

Award for American Programming on Foreign Tours
San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, Donato Cabrera, Music Director

Awards for Programming of Contemporary Music

Group 1 Orchestras
First Place: Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, Music Director
Second Place: Nashville Symphony, Giancarlo Guerrero, Music Director
Third Place: The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

Group 2 Orchestras
First Place: Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Justin Brown, Music Director
Second Place: New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, Michael Tilson Thomas, Artistic Director
Third Place: Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Arild Remmereit, Music Director

Group 3/4 Orchestras
First Place: Chicago Sinfonietta, Mei-Ann Chen, Music Director

Group 5/6 Orchestras
First Place: American Composers Orchestra, Robert Beaser, Artistic Director; George Manahan, Music Director; Derek Bermel, Creative Advisor
Second Place: Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose, Artistic Director
Third Place: Peoria Symphony Orchestra, George Stelluto, Music Director and Conductor

Group 7/8 Orchestras
First Place: Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Anthony Spain, Music Director
Second Place: The Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, Warren Friesen, Artistic Director and Conductor
Third Place: Yakima Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Golan, The Helen N. Jewett Music Director

Collegiate Orchestras
First Place: Cornell University Orchestra, Chris Younghoon Kim, Director of Orchestras
Second Place: Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra, Jeffery Meyer, Director of Orchestras
Third Place: Lamont Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Golan, Music Director and Conductor

Youth Orchestras
First Place: Contemporary Youth Orchestra, Liza Grossman, Music Director
Second Place: Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, Allen Tinkham, Music Director

Festivals
First Place: Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Marin Alsop, Music Director and Conductor
Second Place: Aspen Music Festival and School, Robert Spano, Music Director

(—from the press release)

Bolcom, Harbison, Ives & Zappa Top 2012 Paul Revere Awards

Posted on June 4, 2012 by - Headlines, Ledes

2012 Revere Award Winners

One of the tables stock full of 2012 Paul Revere award-winning publications which were rummaged over throughout the course of day by the attendees of the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Music Publishers Association

New sheet music publications featuring compositions by William Bolcom, John Harbison, Charles Ives, and Frank Zappa are among the first prize winners in the 2012 Paul Revere Awards for Graphic Excellence, which are named in honor of the American Revolutionary War hero, who owned a printing press, and are given annually by the Music Publishers Association (MPA). The awards are open to retail print music publications in all genres published over the course of the past year, as well as scores that are digitally distributed online. Other award winners among the 49 publications in 13 categories include scores by Chen Yi, Valerie Coleman, John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Vijay Iyer, Robert Kyr, Paul Moravec, Steve Reich, David Evan Thomas, Maury Yeston, and Neil Young. Of particular significance is the newly published critical edition of Charles Ives’s Symphony No. 4, a vast improvement over the previously available published edition which had included a confusing page of score printed horizontally to accommodate all of the separate simultaneous parts occurring during that passage. Below is a complete list of all the 2012 Paul Revere award-winning publications.

Full Score Notesetting
1st Prize
Charles Ives: Symphony No. 4 – Critical Edition (Associated Music Publishers/Schirmer)
2nd Prize (tie)
David Del Tredici: Magyar Madness (Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.)
Steve Reich: Sextet (Hendon Music/Boosey & Hawkes)
3rd Prize (tie)
Kurt Weill: Music with Solo Violin (European American Music Corp.)
John Corigliano: The Mannheim Rocket (G. Schirmer, Inc.)

Choral Music Notesetting
1st Prize
William Bolcom: A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day (Edward B. Marks Company)
Joel Raney: Let The Whole World Sing (Hope Publishing Company)
2nd Prize (3-way tie)
Chen Yi: Distance Can’t Keep us Two Apart (Theodore Presser Company)
Robert Kyr: Freedom Song (ECS Publishing Corp.)
David Evan Thomas: The Digital Wonder Watch (ECS Publishing Corp.)

Chamber Music Notesetting
1st Prize
Mozart: Three Arias from The Abduction from the Seraglio (International Music Company)
2nd Prize (3-way tie)
Joseph Schwantner: Percussion Concerto (Schott Music Corp.)
Claude Debussy: Sonata No. 4 (International Music Company)
Domenico Scarlatti: Two Sonatas, K. 87 and 455 (International Music Company)

Solos Music Notesetting
1st Prize
John Harbison: Abu Ghraib (Associated Music Publishers/Schirmer)
2nd Prize (tie)
Valerie Coleman: Danza de la Mariposa (Theodore Presser Company)
Saint-Saëns: Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso (Theodore Presser Company)
3rd Prize
Foundation Studies for the Violin, Book I (Carl Fischer)

Piano-Vocal Music Notesetting
1st Prize
Artur Schnabel: Notturno (Peermusic Classical)
2nd Prize (3-way tie)
Audition Musical Theatre Anthology (Alfred Music Publishing)
Paul Moravec: Danse Russe (Subito Music Publishing)
Maury Yeston: Death Takes a Holiday (Cherry Lane)

Keyboard Music Notesetting
1st Prize (tie)
Enrique Granados: 12 Spanish Dances (Alfred Music Publishing)
Howard Hanson: Sonata in A Minor (Carl Fischer)
2nd Prize (tie)
John Corigliano: Chiaroscuro for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart (G. Schirmer, Inc.)
Chopin: Three New Etudes, Op. Posth. (International Music Company)
3rd Prize
Chen Yi: Variations on “Awariguli” (Theodore Presser Company)

Guitar Music Notesetting
1st Prize
Frank Zappa: One Size Fits All (Hal Leonard)
2nd Prize (tie)
Joe Satriani: Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards (Cherry Lane)
Jeff Beck: Truth (Hal Leonard)
3rd Prize
70 Bach Chorales (Cherry Lane)

Collated Music Notesetting
1st Prize
Franz Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata (Theodore Presser Company)
2nd Prize
G. F. Telemann: Viola Concerto in A Major (Gems Music Publications)

Cover Design Featuring Photography
1st Prize
Sing It First (Kendor Music)
2nd Prize
Matteo Carcassi Classical Guitar Method (Carl Fischer)
3rd Prize
Vijay Iyer: Selected Compositions 1999-2008 (Mel Bay Publications)

Cover Design Featuring Graphic Elements
1st Prize
William Bolcom: Bird Spirits (Edward B. Marks Company)
2nd Prize
Steven C. Warner and Karen Schnieder Kirner: Mass for Our Lady (World Library Publications)
3rd Prize
20 Pieces from Briggs’ Banjo Instructor for Ukelele (Mel Bay Publications)

Book Design in Folios
1st Prize (tie)
Kurt Weill: Music with Solo Violin (European American Music Corp.)
2nd Prize (tie)
William Bolcom: Bird Spirits (Edward B. Marks Company)
Neil Young: Harvest (Hal Leonard)

Book Design in Educational Folios
1st Prize (tie)
101 Harmonica Tips (Hal Leonard)
Method of Movement for Marimba (Marimba Percussion, Inc.)
2nd Prize
No Brainer: Play Drumset (Alfred Music Publishing)
3rd Prize
I Used to Play Drums (Carl Fischer)

Publications for Electronic Distribution
1st Prize
Claude Debussy: Premiere Rhapsodie (Musicnotes, Inc.)
2nd Prize
Carl Maria von Weber: Invitation to the Waltz (Musicnotes, Inc.)

Over the course of the 2012-13 academic year, there will be a touring exhibition of the 2012 Paul Revere award-winning publications to music libraries at colleges and universities through the United States. In previous years, participating libraries have included the Columbia University Music Library in New York City, the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library at Tulane University in New Orleans, the Belmont University Music Library in Nashville, the Fine Arts Library at Michigan State University in East Lansing, the Albert Seay Library of Music and Art at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, and the Odegaard Ungergraduate Library at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The 2012 awards were adjudicated by a panel of four judges: The primary engraving judge was composer Bruce Taub, a freelance consultant and engraver who formerly served as the head of publishing for C.F. Peters Corporation, Music Publishers (from 1978-2000). Composer George Boziwick, chief of the music division for the The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts served as utility judge. Visual artist Maria Reidelbach served as the design judge. The panel was chaired by Paul Sadowski of McGinnis and Marx Music Publishers, who also served as a second engraving judge.

The 2012 Paul Revere Awards were announced by Sadowski during the Annual Meeting of the Music Publishers Association at the Harvard Club in New York City on June 1. During the annual meeting, the MPA also honored Frank J. Hackinson, who has had a seven-decade career in the music publishing business, with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Other events during the 2012 MPA Annual Meeting included panels on the external drivers effecting print music and protecting intellectual property in a digital environment. A highlight of the day was a screening of five video submissions which are finalists in the MPA’s Copyright Awareness Scholarship competition, a program created with the National Association for Music Education (NAfME, formerly MENC). The program, now in its third year, is open to students between the ages of 13 and 25 currently enrolled in high school or university. There were a total of 300 submissions for 2012. The winner, who will be announced at a later date, will receive a $10,000 cash prize.

Anthony Cheung and Jesse Jones Named 2012 Rome Prize Winners

Posted on May 9, 2012 by - Headlines, Ledes

Composers Anthony Cheung and Jesse Benjamin Jones are among the winners of the 116th annual Rome Prize Competition. Recipients are provided with a fellowship that includes a stipend, a study or studio, and room and board for a period of six months to two years in Rome, Italy. A total of thirty Rome Prize winners were announced; in addition to the two awardees in musical composition, there were also winners in the disciplines of design, history (ancient studies, Medieval studies, Renaissance and Early Modern studies), historic preservation and conservation, landscape architecture, modern Italian studies, and visual arts.

Anthony Cheung

Anthony Cheung

Anthony Cheung—Luciano Berio Rome Prize
Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows, Harvard University
SynchroniCities for Chamber Ensemble with Electronics; A 20th Century Genealogy of Transcription (Aide-mémoire, Pedagogy, Recording, and the Jazz Canon)

Jesse Jones

Jesse Jones

Jesse Jones—Elliott Carter Rome Prize
DMA Candidate, Department of Music, Cornell University
Of the Soul

Forty-three individuals were invited to make up nine peer juries to review the applications this year. The musical composition jury consisted of Harold Meltzer (chair), Chen Yi, Pierre Jalbert, David Sanford, and Marilyn Shrude.

Founded in 1894, originally as the first graduate school of architecture for the United States, the American Academy in Rome emerged in its present form—a hybrid center for the arts and humanities—by 1912. The 11-acre campus remains a vital American overseas center for independent study and advanced research. It is a not-for-profit, private entity, the only academy in Rome not supported primarily or entirely by its government.

The next application deadline, for the 2013-2014 awards cycle, is November 1, 2012. Application information and materials are available here.

Aaron Jay Kernis Wins 2012 Nemmers Prize

Posted on May 7, 2012 by - Headlines, Ledes

Aaron Jay Kernis

Aaron Jay Kernis. Photo by Richard Bowditch. Courtesy Dworkin & Company

Aaron Jay Kernis has been selected as the 2012 winner of the Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery announced today. In connection with the Nemmers Prize, Kernis will be in residence at Northwestern for four weeks each throughout the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, during which time he will undertake various educational activities. The prize will be formally awarded to Kernis in a ceremony to take place during his final weeks at the university.

“I am thrilled and deeply grateful to receive the Nemmers Prize,” said Kernis. “I thank the jury for this honor, which so generously recognizes a life’s work of composing. It is indescribably gratifying to sense that one’s dedication to creating new music can be meaningful to other people’s lives, and extend communication among us. I have had many memorable experiences with Chicago’s music groups in recent years; the area is becoming a center for the highest standards of new music performance and ideas. It will be a great pleasure to work with the young musicians and faculty at the renowned Beinen School at Northwestern, and deeply exciting to have my work performed again by the Chicago Symphony.”

The Nemmers Prize is the most recent of Kernis’s many awards. One of the youngest composers to win the Pulitzer Prize (in 1998), he has also received the Grawemeyer Award for Musical Composition, the Elise Stoeger Prize of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Rome Prize, and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, among others. Kernis’s receipt of the Nemmers Prize follows a slew of Chicago performances of his music. He was the Chicago Chamber Musicians’ featured composer at its last concert, which he also curated, and his da l’Arte del Danssar was recently performed on the Chicago Symphony’s musicNOW series.

Recent recordings include Goblin Market with The New Professionals and conductor Rebecca Miller on Signum Classics, and an album of orchestral works by the Grant Park Festival Orchestra (Cedille). His music is also available on Nonesuch, Phoenix, New Albion, and many other labels. Kernis’s music is published by AJK Music, administered by Associated Music Publishers (G. Schirmer/Music Sales).

The previous recipients of the Nemmers Prize, which is given for “outstanding achievement in music,” were John Adams, Oliver Knussen, Kaija Saariaho, and John Luther Adams.

(—from the press release)

Austin’s Conspirare Receives $1 Million Gift From the Kodosky Foundation

Posted on April 23, 2012 by - Headlines, Ledes

Austin choral ensemble Conspirare recently received a leadership gift of $1 million from the Kodosky Foundation towards their $2.2 million “A Legacy of Sound” major gifts campaign. This five-year fundraising initiative coincides with Conspirare’s 20th anniversary season in 2012-13. To date, Conspirare has raised a total of $1.5 million with additional support from the Still Water Foundation, Mattsson McHale Foundation, and other donors.

Conspirare artistic director Craig Hella Johnson said, “We at Conspirare are deeply grateful for the generosity of these donors; they are important parts of our circle of music through their friendship and support. We hope many other friends of Conspirare will join them by making gifts of all sizes to this campaign, which will help widen the circle even more.”

Conspirare

Conspirare – Photo by Karen Sachar

Notable in their plans is a $500,000 Fund for Artistic Innovation “to enable Conspirare to commission more new work from a range of established and emerging composers, explore new uses of technology and multi-media presentations, and develop new approaches to choral performance.” A $1 million expanded recording program will support Conspirare’s future releases and ongoing relationship with Harmonia Mundi, and $375,000 will go towards increased national and international touring efforts. Of this considerable goal, only $125,000 will go towards performance of classic repertoire.

Conspirare will announce details of its 2012-13 20th anniversary season, including the first projects supported by the “A Legacy of Sound” campaign, in early May.

First Class of Doris Duke Artists Awarded Total of $5.775 Million

Posted on April 19, 2012 by - Headlines, Ledes

doris dukeDon Byron, Rinde Eckert, Bill Frisell, John Hollenbeck, Vijay Iyer, Nicole Mitchell, and Meredith Monk are among the 21 American performing artists working in contemporary dance, jazz, theatre, and multidisciplinary work who have been named as part of the first class of Doris Duke Artists, a new initiative of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Each will receive an unrestricted, multi-year cash grant of $225,000, plus as much as $50,000 more in targeted support for retirement savings and audience development. Creative Capital, DDCF’s primary partner in the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, will also offer the awardees the opportunity to take part in professional development activities, financial and legal counseling, and grantee gatherings—all designed to help them maximize the use of their grants.

DDCF is granting these awards as part of a $50 million, ten-year commitment over and above its existing funding for the performing arts. By the end of the ten years, DDCF will have offered a total of at least 200 artists greatly expanded freedom to create, through an initiative that makes available the largest allocation of unrestricted cash grants ever given to individuals in contemporary dance, jazz, theatre and related fields. Provided to honorees through a rigorous, anonymous process of peer review—no applications are accepted—the grants are not tied to any specific project but are made as investments in the artists’ personal and professional development and future work.

DDCF is naming the first Doris Duke Artists in the year that marks the centenary of the birth of Doris Duke (1912-1993). The complete list of 2012 inaugural award recipients includes:

· Anne Bogart, theatre (New York, NY)
· Don Byron, jazz (New York, NY)
· Wally Cardona, dance (Brooklyn, NY)
· Rinde Eckert, multidisciplinary performance (Upper Nyack, NY)
· Bill Frisell, jazz (Seattle, WA)
· Deborah Hay, dance (Austin, TX)
· John Hollenbeck, jazz (Binghamton, NY)
· Vijay Iyer, jazz (New York, NY)
· Marc Bamuthi Joseph, multidisciplinary performance (Oakland, CA)
· Elizabeth LeCompte, theatre (New York, NY)
· Young Jean Lee, theatre (Brooklyn, NY)
· Ralph Lemon, dance (New York, NY)
· Richard Maxwell, theatre (Brooklyn, NY)
· Sarah Michelson, dance (Brooklyn, NY)
· Bebe Miller, dance (New York, NY and Columbus, OH)
· Nicole Mitchell, jazz (Long Beach, CA and Chicago, IL)
· Meredith Monk, multidisciplinary performance (New York, NY)
· Eiko Otake, dance (New York, NY)
· Takashi Koma Otake, dance (New York, NY)
· Basil Twist, theatre (New York, NY)
· Reggie Wilson, dance (Brooklyn, NY)

To qualify for consideration by the review panels, all of the Doris Duke Artists must have won grants, prizes or awards on a national level for at least three different projects over the past ten years, with at least one project having received support from a DDCF-funded program. The first class of artists were chosen based on demonstrated evidence of exceptional creativity, ongoing self-challenge, and the continuing potential to make significant contributions to their fields in the future.

DDCF will eventually name a total of at least 100 Doris Duke Artists, each of whom will receive $225,000 as an unrestricted cash grant over three to five years and will qualify for an additional $25,000 earmarked for audience development—including but not limited to arts education. In addition, DDCF is prepared to provide $25,000 more on an incentive matching basis for retirement savings. DDCF will also offer Doris Duke Impact Awards to at least 100 jazz, theatre, contemporary dance and multidisciplinary artists, selected through an anonymous peer-review process for their demonstrated potential to influence their fields. Unlike the Doris Duke Artists, these individuals may not yet have received significant national support. Each Impact Award recipient will receive $60,000 in unrestricted funding over a period of two to three years, an additional $10,000 earmarked for audience development and $10,000 on an incentive matching basis for retirement savings. The Doris Duke Artist Awards and the Doris Duke Impact Awards will be announced in classes of approximately twenty between 2012 and 2016, and 2014 and 2018, respectively.

More information about the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards is available at ddpaa.org.

(—from the press release)

Kevin Puts Wins 2012 Pulitzer Prize

Posted on April 16, 2012 by - Headlines, Ledes

Kevin Puts

Kevin Puts; photo by J. Henry Fair

Silent Night: Opera in Two Acts by Kevin Puts has been awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Commissioned and premiered by the Minnesota Opera in Minneapolis on November 12, 2011, and featuring a libretto by Mark Campbell, the self-published Silent Night was described by the jury as “a stirring opera that recounts the true story of a spontaneous cease-fire among Scottish, French and Germans during World War I, displaying versatility of style and cutting straight to the heart.” The prize is for a “distinguished musical composition by an American that has had its first performance or recording in the United States” during the previous calendar year and comes with a cash award of ten thousand dollars.

Very few operas have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize since the prize was established in 1943. Although Zhou Long’s opera Madame White Snake was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music last year, an opera had not previously won the Pulitzer since the year 2000 when the prize was awarded to Lewis Spratlan’s Life is a Dream and technically that award was only for the second act which had been performed in concert version. (The opera, which was actually completed in 1978, was not performed in full until the year 2010.) So in reality the previous opera to win the award prior to 2011’s Madame White Snake was Robert Ward’s The Crucible back in 1962. In the 1950s, several now frequently revived American operas were awarded the prize including Samuel Barber’s Vanessa (1958) and two by Gian-Carlo Menotti: The Consul (1950) and The Saint of Bleecker Street (1955). The sole remaining Pulitzer-winning opera was Douglas Moore’s Giants in the Earth (1951), a work which has yet to be commercially recorded.

“I hadn’t really given much thought to whether I had a chance at winning this award,” admitted Kevin Puts in a phone conversation minutes after receiving the news. “But the Minnesota Opera suggested I submit it. As soon as I started Silent Night [which is Puts’s first opera], the medium of writing opera felt really natural and exciting to me and I immediately wanted to write more opera. I would not have won this award without my librettist, Mark Campbell. The prize gives me a sense of validation for the work and I hope it will lead to many other things.”

Also nominated as finalists in for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music were: Tod Machover for Death and the Powers, developed by the MIT Media Lab in partnership with the American Repertory Theatre which received its American premiere in Boston, Massachusetts on March 18, 2011; and Andrew Norman for The Companion Guide to Rome, premiered on November 13, 2011 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The jurors for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music were: Chuck Owen, distinguished professor, University of South Florida, Tampa (Chair); Jeremy Geffen, director of artistic planning, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY; Jennifer Higdon, 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning composer and faculty, Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia, PA); Steve Smith, music editor, Time Out New York and freelance contributor, The New York Times, and Kenny Werner, jazz pianist, composer, author and composition faculty, New York University.

10 Composers Among the 181 Guggenheim Fellows for 2012

Posted on April 12, 2012 by - Headlines, Ledes

Top row (left to right): Mincek, Previte, Hagen, Hodge, Soper;
Bottom row (left to right): Makan, Fang, Cipullo, Fung, Ye
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced its 2012 fellows in the United States and Canada. A total of 181 fellowships have been awarded to scholars, artists, and scientists chosen from a group of almost 3,000 applicants for this 88th annual competition. The ten composers chosen this year are: Tom Cipullo, Fang Man, Vivian Fung, Daron Hagen, Huck Hodge, Keeril Makan, Alex Mincek, Bobby Previte, Kate Soper, and Xiaogang Ye. A 2012 fellowship has also been awarded to musicologist Carol J. Oja, whose upcoming book Bernstein Meets Broadway: Collaborative Art, Race, and Progressive Politics in a Time of War is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.

A complete list of the 2012 fellows, with biographical links, is posted on the Guggenheim Foundation’s website.