The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) will honor established opera and concert composers as well as a new crop of young talents on the occasion of its Second Annual ASCAP Concert Music Awards on May 24. Peter Schickele will host the program at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theatre.
In all, 26 young composers under the age of 30 were selected from 435 submissions to receive ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. The 22-year-old awards program recognizes concert talent but is also an annual insight to a new crop of composers—some of whom later move between Broadway, film and other genres during the course of their careers.
Special honorees at this year’s event will include Leonard Slatkin, Fred Sherry and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Merkin Hall, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Corigliano (“The Red Violin,” “Symphony No. 2,” The Ghosts of Versailles), Chen Yi (Academy of Arts and Letters’ Carles Ives “Living” Award), Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” New York City Opera’s Marco Polo) H. Robert Reynolds, as well as popular music producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T-Rex) and Martha Mooke for their popular genre-busting showcase, “Thru the Walls.”
The Young Composers was renamed after Pulitzer Prize winning composer Morton Gould, following his death in 1996. A long term creative rights booster and former ASCAP president, Gould was highly regarded as an advocate of new talent.
According to an ASCAP release, “ASCAP’s winning composers share prizes of over $30,000.” The winning composers are Randall Bauer of Princeton, N.J.; Brian Current of Toronto, Canada; Emily Doolittle of Halifax, Nova Scotia; Jason Eckardt of New York, N.Y.; Paul Fowler of Brookfield, Wis.; Jefferson Friedman of New York, N.Y.; Michel Galante of San Francisco, Calif.; Brooke Joyce of Princeton, N.J.; John Kaefer of Basking Ridge, N.J.; Daniel Kellogg of New Haven, Conn.; Nancy Kho of New Haven, Conn.; Michael Klingbeil of Urbana, Ill.; David McMullin of Boston, Mass.; Leah Muir of Bennington, Vt.; Carter Pann of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Vineet Shende of Western Springs, Ill.; Gregory Spears of Virginia Beach, Va.; Mischa Zupko of Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Craig T. Walsh of Tucson, Ariz. Honorable mentions went to Kristen Kuster of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Nathan Michel of Charleston, S.C.; Brian R. Nelsonof San Antonio, Texas; and Joshua Penman of New Haven, Conn.
In addition to the above mentioned winners, ASCAP has “made special Awards for composers under the age of 18” These include Preben Antonsen (age 9) of Berkeley, Calif.; Julia Scott Carey (age 14) of Wellesley, Mass.; Sebastian Chang (age 13) of Orange County, Calif.; Ann Fontanella (age 12) of West Chester, Penn.; Sheridan Seyfried (age 16) of Oreland, Penn.; Natasha Sinha (age 10) of Milton, Mass.; and Alex Temple (age 17) of Boston, Mass.. Honorable mention went to Nathan Bello (age 14) of Portland, Ore.; Christopher Lim (age 12) of New York, N.Y.; Marcus Macauley (age 15) of Mercer Island, Wash.; Kyung Sun Min (age 17) of Milton, Mass.; and Joseph Sowa (age 16) of Hartford, Conn..
The judges for the competition were Eve Beglarian, Chen Yi, Jennifer Higdon, Paul Lansky, P.Q. Phan and Roberto Sierra.
—By Murdoch McBride
