Musical America, which is the international directory of the performing arts, presents its 2007 awards Dec. 20 at Lincoln Center’s Kaplan Penthouse. The organization will also honor Bernard Haitnik (Musician of the Year), William Bolcom (Composer of the Year), pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Instrumentalist of the Year) and Michael Kaiser of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Impresario of the Year). Musical America was founded in 1898 and provides contact information worldwide for the performing arts. Others who have been honored by the organization include Susan Graham, Deborah Voigt, Dawn Upshaw, Renee Fleming and Anne Sophie von Otter.
Barbara Cook has starred on Broadway in Flahooley, Candide, The Gay Life, The Music Man and She Loves Me. She received a Best Featured Actress in a Musical Tony Award for her performance in The Music Man, and her one-woman show, Mostly Sondheim, was nominated for a Tony in the Best Special Theatrical Event category. Cook was most recently on the New York stage in Barbara Cook's Broadway. Both Mostly Sondheim and Barbara Cook's Broadway were recorded for DRG. Cook made her solo debut at the Metropolitan Opera, which recently released on DRG Records.