HONORED

2005 NEA NATIONAL HERITAGE FELLOWSHIP
BEYLE SCHAECHTER-GOTTESMAN
Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, a Yiddish singer, songwriter and poet, received a National Heritage Fellowship, the country's highest recognition of Folk & Traditional Artists, from the National Endowment for the Arts. This is the first time that a Yiddish writer or singer has received this honor. The fellowship includes an award of $20,000, a ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on September 22nd, 2005, and a performance the following day.

Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman was born in Vienna, Austria, but she was raised in pre-war Chernovitz, Romania, one of the centers of Yiddish intellectual culture. She survived the Holocaust in the ghetto in Chernovitz and came to the United States in 1951. Active as a teacher and songwriter, she also began to write poetry and gained a reputation as one of America's premier Yiddish poets. Many of her songs cover a wide range of subjects from subway musicians, to personal reminiscences, to descriptions of street life in her hometown, the Bronx. The renaissance of klezmer music in the United States allowed her large repertoire of traditional and original material to be performed by many artists including Theodore Bikel, Adrienne Cooper, and Michael Alpert.

Schaechter-Gottesman has been acclaimed as one of the great living unaccompanied ballad singers as well. She takes great pride in her work with children, writing songs especially for them and performing frequently for young audiences. In 1998, she was inducted into the People's Hall of Fame by the organization City Lore based in New York City.

(l-r): Tullio, Staples and Weider.

WC HANDY AWARD
Jim Weider and Jim Tullio were honored at the 2005 WC Handy Awards in Memphis TN for writing the winning Blues Song of the Year "Have-a-Little Faith" which was also the radio single from the Mavis Staples alligator CD release Have-a-Little Faith. Mavis Staples won Soul/ Blues album of the year, (produced by Jim Tullio) and Soul Blues Artist of the Year. "Have-a-Little Faith" also appeared on the WB TV Show, Jack and Bobby.

View the July 22 press release >>>

PHIL THRILL
PHIL STEELE received a Gold Disc in Paris for the soundtrack of Kill Bill Volume 2 from Fabrice Benoit, Managing Director of Universal Music Publishing France. Phil co-wrote and performed "The Chase" with Alan Reeves and Philip Brigham for the Tarantino hit film. In April 2004, Kill Bill Volume 2 went straight onto the Billboard Top 200 Album chart at #58 and went to #2 on the Billboard soundtrack chart.



DOTTIE BURMAN for being nominated for a 2005 MAC Award in the category of Musical Comedy Performer for her critically acclaimed performance of her show, An Evening With Dottie Burman. The musical evening was directed by Patricia Norcia, with musical direction by Paul Greenwood at Don't Tell Mama Cabaret Theater in NYC. The show featured songs from Dottie's latest CD of original songs, When the Palm Trees Grow in Central Park. The title song from this album has also just been awarded the Second Prize in the Social/Political Songs category in the Unisong International Song Contest. Visit Dottie's website at www.dottieburman.com/video.htm to see video highlights from the show.

MICHAEL GATONSKA for being named the winner of the American Composers Orchestra's 2005 Underwood Emerging Composers Commission, bringing him a $15,000 commission for a work to be premiered by American Composers Orchestra. Selected from among ten finalists, Gatonska won the top prize with his work, An Expedition Aboard the Third Mind.

HOLLY NEAR, singer and social justice activist, is one of the 1000 women from more than 150 countries who have been jointly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005. The nominated women commit themselves daily to the cause of peace and justice. As a singer, she uses her performances to educate and inform audiences about a myriad of issues including world peace and multicultural consciousness.

BEHZAD RANJBARAN for being named Saratoga Performing Arts Center's Composer-in-Residence for 2005. Two of his premieres will be performed at SPAC this summer for SPAC's 40th anniversary.

In a unanimous vote, the Manhattan School of Music Board of Trustees named the distinguished American composer, ROBERT SIROTA, the school's eighth president, effective October 2005. Sirota, who has been Director of Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory since 1995, will also become a member of the composition faculty. He has served as Chairman of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at NYU and Director of Boston University's School of Music.

WILLIAM SUSMAN who composed the score to Oil on Ice was honored with Best Film Score at the 2005 Moondance International Film Festival. The score featuring renowned cellist, Joan Jeanrenaud is being released on CD in August with the Warner Home Video DVD release.

BETSY WALKER for her Christmas song, "When the Angels Sing." The song won Best Gospel Inspirational Song in the West Coast Songwriter's International Song Contest. Her song "Good Thing Going Love," co-written by Elwood Ervin and Greg Solomon, received an honorable mention in the Country category.

JUDITH LANG ZAIMONT has been awarded a 2005 Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship in Composition. These competitive awards are given in composition on a 2- year rotation; they provide $44,000 in unrestricted funds to support the awardee's selfidentified creative projects. Bush Foundation Artist Fellowships support artists of demonstrated ability; among the qualities the program seeks in an artist are strong vision, creative energy and perseverance.


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