Stepping Out

Honored

Five Star Iris
ALAN SHAEFER (pictured), frontman/songwriter for the band Five Star Iris has much to celebrate as of late. The band's song, "Let It All Out," has won the rock/indy category in the U.K. Songwriting Contest, which received more than 4,000 submissions. Five Star Iris, who have opened for major bands such as Switchfoot, Collective Soul, Fuel, Dishwalla and others, have licensed 10 of their songs to MTV, performed for U.S. troops on two separate tours in Italy and Spain and will be performing on the 2006 Rockboat cruise with Better Than Ezra, Shawn Mullins, Sister Hazel, Blue Merle and others. Shaefer recently co-wrote a song for Jordan McCoy (Bad Boy Entertainment), which will be on her new album.



2005 FROMM MUSIC COMMISSIONS from The Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard have been presented to the following ASCAP composers: JASON BAHR (Mississippi State, MS), CLAUDE BAKER (Bloomington, IN), KEITH FITCH (New York, NY), ADAM GREENE (San Diego, CA), TANIA LEON (New York, NY), ALFRED LERDAHL (South Hadley, MA), JAMES MOBBERLY (Liberty, MO), MORRIS ROSENZWEIG (Salt Lake City, UT), KURT STALLMAN (Houston, TX) and ORIANNA WEBB (Akron, OH).

TONY BENNETT AND BUDDY DEFRANCO by the "National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowships." This is one of the highest honors that the U.S. government bestows upon jazz musicians. Each honoree received an award of $25,000 and an invite to participate in the jazz masters tour.

TAN DUN for receiving the 16th Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg, Germany, for his outstanding contributions through music to intercultural relations between the East and West. The prize has been given annually since 1990 for outstanding achievements in music and music theater in association with the Köhler-Osbahr Foundation, which awards a monetary prize of 15,000 Euro. Past recipients include composers Hans Werner Henze (1996), Krzysztof Penderecki (2000), and Gerhard Stäbler (2003), among others.

EDIE HILL to receive a "National Chamber Music America Composer Commissioning Grants" for 2005-2006 for a project to be composed for the Cantus concert tour. The piece will be based on the rule of St. Benedict and will premiere in Spring 2006.

HOLLY NEAR for being nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. As one of the 1,000 women nominated, this singer and social justice activist uses her lyrics to educate and inform audiences about issues such as world peace and feminism. For more information on Holly, visit www.hollynear.com.

SHERISSE ROGERS with the Gil Evans Fellowship, an annual commission sponsored by the Herb Alpert Jazz Endowment Fund and the International Association for Jazz Education, and the 6th Annual Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize for "The Slippery Slope."