ASCAP Announces 31 Recipients of the 2011 Young Jazz Composer Awards

ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams has announced the 31 recipients of the 2011 ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards, who range in age from 9 to 29.

Written By

NewMusicBox Staff

ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams has announced the recipients of the 2011 ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards. This program, established in 2002, was created to encourage gifted jazz composers from throughout the United States. This year’s 31 recipients, who range in age from 9 to 29, receive cash awards and were selected through a juried national competition.

This year’s ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award recipients, ages 18-29, are:

Mariel Berger, 29 (Brooklyn, NY)
Sebastian Boehlen, 24 (New York, NY)
Brent Canter, 24 (New York, NY)
Daniel Cole, 29 (Los Angeles, CA)
Angelo DiLoreto, 20 (New York, NY)
Shaul Einav, 28, (New York, NY)
Halley Elwell, 27 (San Francisco, CA)
Nick Grondin, 28 (Boston, MA)
Miho Hazama, 24 (New York, NY)
Florian Hoefner, 28 (New York, NY/ Germany)
Daniel Jamieson, 24 (New York, NY)
Noah Kellman, 19 (Fayetteville, NY)
Grace Kelly, 18 (Dover, MA)
Nate Kimball, 26 (Las Vegas, NV)
Brian Krock, 21 (Urbana, IL)
Joshua Kwassman, 22 New York, NY)
Pascal LeBoeuf, 24 (New York, NY)
Robby Marshall, 26 (Los Angeles, CA)
Garth Neustadter, 24 (New Haven, CT)
Andrew J. Oliver, 26 (Portland, OR)
Julian Pollack, 22, (New York, NY)
Dan Pugach, 27 (Brooklyn, NY)
Levi Saelua, 20 (Rochester, NY)
Erica Seguine, 23 (Parsippany, NJ)
Sonia Szajnberg, 27 (Brooklyn, NY)
Benjamin Taylor, 27 (Bowling Green, OH)
Erica von Kleist, 28 (Brooklyn, NY)

The youngest ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composers, ages 9 to 17, are:

Phillip Golub, 17 (CA)
Patrick McGee, 14 (PA)
Renata Vallecillo, 11 (AZ)
Tissiana Vallecillo, 9 (AZ)

Additionally, six composers received Honorable Mention:

Annie Booth, 21 (Westminster, CO)
Mark DeSimone, 29 (San Jose, CA)
Brett McDonald, 22 (New Brunswick, NJ)
Scott Ninmer, 22 (Taylorville, IL)
Michael L. Schachter, 23 (Ann Arbor, MI)
Stefan Schmid, 26 (New York, NY)

The ASCAP composer/judges for the 2011 competition were: Wycliffe Gordon, Ted Piltzecker, and Roland Vazquez. The program is supported in part by The Gibson Foundation, which is the philanthropic division of Gibson Guitar Corp., and the estate of composer Bart Howard, whose more than 200 songs include “Fly me To The Moon.”

(—from the press release)