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January 5, 2005
PRESS
CONTACT: |
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ASCAP
Pauline Stack
(212) 621-6278
pstack@ascap.com
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 Frances
Richard, ASCAP Vice President and Director of Concert
Music and Daron Hagen, President of the Lotte Lehmann
Foundation (LLF) announced today the creation of the
first ASCAP/Lotte Lehmann Foundation Song Cycle
Competition. The competition, named for
legendary soprano Lotte Lehmann, was established to
recognize talented young composers who write for the
human voice. Winning works will be selected via
a juried national competition from amongst eligible
composers under the age of thirty.
First Prize will be a $3,500 commission
for a song cycle for voice and piano, publication by
E.C. Schirmer of the completed work, and performances
of the song cycle in three major American cities, including
New York. Second Prize ($1,000) and Third Prize
($500) will be awarded to commission two new songs
for voice and piano. The deadline for
entries is September 15, 2005. Applicants
must be citizens, permanent residents of the United
States, or enrolled students with student visas, who
will not reach their 30th birthday by January 1, 2006. One
original work per composer may be submitted. A
panel of professionals will be convened to select the
composers to be commissioned. Guidelines and
application can be found at http://www.ascap.com/concert/lottelehmann/
Composer Daron Hagen, President of the
Lotte Lehmann Foundation said, “The Lotte Lehmann
Foundation is proud to launch this important competition
in partnership with ASCAP. We are grateful to
Margo Garrett for generously underwriting the commission
prizes, and to EC Schirmer for pledging to publish
the Song Cyclecreated through this
initiative. We welcome presenters whose
willingness to join in the presentation of multiple
performances will fulfill Lehmann's dream of bringing
art song to people everywhere."
World famous soprano Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976) was
one of the great musical artists of the 20th Century. Lehmann's
glorious voice and expressive interpretive talent enthralled
her audiences with material ranging from opera to Lieder
(classical German song). Lehmann fled her native
Germany for the US in 1938 and became an American citizen. After
her singing career ended she continued to write books,
give master-classes and helped found the Music Academy
of the West in Santa Barbara, CA. Her influence
in the world of opera, art song and education was enormous.
Founded in 1998, The Lotte Lehmann Foundation is devoted
to the preservation of the magnificent Lehmann artistic
and teaching legacy, and to her commitment to educating
the public to appreciate art song. Art
song, (also called classical song, solo song, Lieder
or mélodie) is music written for classically
trained voice and piano, set to pre-existing poetry. http://www.lottelehmann.org/
2004 marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of
ASCAP. As the world’s largest Performing
Rights Organization, ASCAP has nearly 200,000 composer,
lyricist and music publisher members representing all
genres of music. ASCAP is committed to protecting
the rights of its members by licensing and collecting
royalties for the public performance of their copyrighted
works, and then distributing these fees to the Society’s
members based on performances. ASCAP’s
Board of Directors is made up solely of writers and
publishers, elected by the membership every two years. http://www.ascap.com/
ASCAP
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