NEW YORK, April 4, 2019: ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams today announced the recipients of the 2019 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, which encourage talented young creators of concert music ranging in age from 10 to 30.

“Our Morton Gould Award recipients hail from all over the world and represent the wide spectrum within the field of concert music,” said Williams. “We congratulate them on their accomplishments and thank our judges as always for their time and effort in discovering and encouraging these young music creators.

This year’s recipients of the Morton Gould Young Composer Awards are as follows, including their current residence and place of origin. Recipients under the age of 18 are listed with their state of residence:

Tomek Arnold of Buffalo, NY (Krakow, Poland); Corey Chang of Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (Woodbridge, CT); Tommy Dougherty of San Diego, CA (Pittsburgh, PA); Jack Frerer of New York, NY (Sydney, Australia); Ilaria Loisa Hawley of NY; Will Healy of New York, NY (Pelham, NY); Adam Karelin of Los Angeles, CA (Haifa, Israel); Jihyun Kim of Ithaca, NY (Seoul, South Korea); Soomin Kim of Oberlin, OH (Uijeongbu, South Korea); Leo Major of CA;  Marc Migó  of New York, NY (Barcelona, Spain); Jordan Millar of NY; Nathan Paek of WA; Jules Pegram of Los Angeles, CA (Richmond, VA); Nina Shekhar of Los Angeles, CA (Detroit, MI); Akshaya Avril Tucker of Austin, TX (Williamsburg, MA); Liliya Ugay of New Haven, CT (Tashkent, Uzbekistan); Logan Vrankovic of Astoria, NY; Benjamin Webster Coral Gables, FL (Wrentham, MA); Sam Wu of New York, NY (Shanghai, China); and Jihwan Yoon of  Elmhurst, NY (Seoul, South Korea).

The following composers received Honorable Mention (recipients under the age of 18 are listed by state of residence): Benjamin Beckman of Los Angeles, CA; Dan Caputo of Los Angeles, CA (Seattle, WA); Anthony Constantino of Los Angeles, CA (Tucson, AZ); Stella G. Gitelman Willoughby of Cambridge, MA; Marco A. Jimenez of FL; Haeon Lee of NY; Iván Enrique Rodríguez of West New York, NJ (Caguas, Puerto Rico); James Takashi Tabata of Austin, TX (Houston, TX) and Shelley Washington of Princeton, NJ (Kansas City, MO).

The 2019 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards composer/judges were: Timo Andres, Martha Mooke, Tamar Muskal, Jeffrey Scott, Robert Sirota, andEdward Smaldone.

Established in 1979 with funding from the Jack and Amy Norworth Fund, The ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards grant cash prizes to concert music composers up to 30 years of age whose works are selected through a juried national competition.  These composers may be American citizens, permanent residents, or students possessing US Student Visas.

 

Among the prizes is the Leo Kaplan Award, in memory of the distinguished attorney who served as ASCAP Special Distribution Advisor.

In addition to The ASCAP Foundation Jack and Amy Norworth Fund, The ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund provides additional support for the Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. Caesar was best known as the lyricist of “Tea for Two” and “Swanee,” while Norworth wrote such standards as "Shine On Harvest Moon" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." 

To honor his lifelong commitment to encouraging young creators, the program was dedicated to Morton Gould’s memory following his death in 1996. Gould himself was a child prodigy whose first composition was published by G. Schirmer when he was only six years of age; he later became a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer. He served as President of ASCAP and The ASCAP Foundation from 1986 – 1994.

About The ASCAP Foundation

Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education, talent development and humanitarian programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States. www.ascapfoundation.org

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Press Contact:

ASCAP – Cathy Nevins
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