SYMPHONY & CONCERT

ASCAP honors 13 chamber music ensembles, festivals and presenters

ADVENTUROUS PROGRAMMING AWARDS
ASCAP honored 13 chamber music ensembles, festivals and presenters with plaques and cash awards for their adventurous programming during the 2004 concert season, at Chamber Music America's Annual Conference held January 13-16 at the Westin Hotel in New York City.

ASCAP Vice President of Concert Music, Frances Richard, who presented the awards, commented: "For the eighteenth year ASCAP recognizes those members of Chamber Music America who have demonstrated their commitment to the music of our time, through adventurous programming of works written within the past twenty five years. These awards are made on behalf of the members of ASCAP, in appreciation for the Ensembles, Presenters and Festivals, whose excellent performances enrich and inspire the continuity and vitality of the great chamber music tradition."

The ASCAP composers attending the conference were introduced to the conference attendees on Saturday, January 15, at the awards presentation and reception. The award winners were invited to share their experiences in winning over audiences through their commitment to performing adventurous programs at a special session following the Awards Presentation which was moderated by George Steel, the Director of the Miller Theater at Columbia University in New York.

The ASCAP Adventurous Programming Awards were conceived 18 years ago to encourage ensembles, festivals and presenters to program new works. The ASCAP winners are members of Chamber Music America chosen by a panel selected by CMA.
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(l-r): The New York Youth Symphony's Barry Goldberg, Sondheim, ASCAP's Fran Richard and Derek Bermel.

Making Score
Stephen Sondheim speaks to students in New York

The New York Youth Symphony's "Making Score," held at ASCAP and directed by composer/performer Derek Bermel, is a series of workshops designed to explore the world of composing and orchestration for the younger musician. Stephen Sondheim was the special guest speaker at the workshop in March.

(l-r): Emcee Frank J. Oteri, The Clogs' Thomas Kozumplik, ASCAP's Cia Toscanini, performers Bryce Dessner, Fred Ho, Thru the Walls founder Martha Mooke, The Clogs' Rachael Elliott , performer Padma Newsome and ASCAP's Fran Richard.

Thru the Walls Features Music That Defies Boundaries
Fred Ho, Bryce Dessner and Padma Newsome with the Clogs Perform

The ASCAP Foundation presented the latest installment of its highly popular Thru the Walls showcase series at The Cutting Room in Manhattan on February 7. Sponsored in part by Sibelius, the music notation software company, the series is designed to showcase the work of composers/performers whose concert music defies boundaries and genres. Composer/NewMusicBox.org Editor Frank J. Oteri emceed the event.

The featured ASCAP composer/performers were Fred Ho (baritone saxophone), Bryce Dessner and Padma Newsome with the Clogs (Bryce Dessner, guitar; Rachael Elliott, bassoon; Thomas Kozumplik, percussion; and Padma Newsome, violin/viola).

Previous composer/performers who have participated include Paola Balsama Prestini & Nico Muhly of VisionIntoArt, Eve Beglarian, Gregg Bendian, Kitty Brazelton, Kenji Bunch, Tom Chiu, Jed Distler, Mark Dresser, Annie Gosfield, Susie Ibarra, Arthur Kampela, Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, Lukas Ligeti, Denman Maroney, Martha Mooke, Ben Neill, Milica Paranosic, Misha Piatigorsky, Bobby Previte, Todd Reynolds, Brandon Ross, Rob Schwimmer, Matt Shipp, Dave Soldier, Mark Stewart, Randy Woolf, Evan Ziporyn, and Pamela Z.

Andrew Norman

Andrew Norman Wins Rudolf Nissim Award
10-Minute Sacred Geometry picked

The winner of the 25th annual ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Award is Andrew Norman for Sacred Geometry, a 10-minute work for orchestra, selected from amongst nearly 300 submissions. Norman received a prize of $5,000.

A recent graduate of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, Norman completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies there, earning an MM in composition in 2004, and a BM summa cum laude two years prior to that. Currently teaching piano and composition at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, he has received commissions by the William Kappell Piano Foundation, the Modesto Symphony, the California State University Stanislaus Symphony, and the New York Youth Symphony.

Sacred Geometry, commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony was also selected for the Minnesota Orchestra Composers’ Institute Readings. Norman has received the 2004 Jacob Druckman Prize from the Aspen Music Festival, two ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, as well as top honors in the National Federation of Music Clubs Composition Contest, the Music Teachers National Association Composition Contest, and the University of Southern California Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Creative Work.

Norman has served as a composition master class fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, as a two-time composition fellow at the Chamber Music Conference and Composers' Forum of the East, and a composer-in-residence for the National Youth Orchestra Festival. His works have been performed throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, England, France and Japan. Norman maintains an active performing schedule, recently appearing with the USC Contemporary Music Ensemble at Walt Disney Hall as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series, and also with the Ensemble Green, a Los Angeles-based new music group.

Library of Congress Announces Koussevitzky Commisions for 2004
ASCAP composers receive commissions for new musical works
The Serge Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation Inc. have awarded commissions for new musical works. The commissions are granted jointly by the foundations and the performing organizations that will present the newly composed works.

The ASCAP composer winners (and the groups co-sponsoring their commissions) are: Shih-Hui Chen and the Empyrean Ensemble; Jacqueline Fontyn (SABEM) and the Lamina Quartet; Lior Navok (ACUM) and the Borromeo String Quartet; Mark-Anthony Turnage (PRS) and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and Zhou Long, by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Pacific Symphony. This marks the second Koussevitzky commission for composers Jacquelyn Fontyn and Zhou Long.

Photo by Ted Weiner, WDAV Classical Public Radio.

AMPPR Conference

Composer/Cellist Matt Haimovitz performs in Las Vegas
ASCAP's Fran Richard is pictured with ASCAP member Matt Haimovitz at the AMPPR (Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio) Conference in Las Vegas. ASCAP hosted a reception and Matt played cello for the group.

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