News: June 2000

The ASCAP Foundation Names Winners of the 2000 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards

ASCAP recently announced the 23 winners of the 2000 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. The winners were welcomed into the ASCAP family and presented to the music community at the first annual ASCAP Concert Music Awards Event, which took place on May 25th at The Juilliard School's Paul Hall in New York. Peter Schickele served as Master of Ceremonies.

After an introduction by Stephen Paulus, composer Deborah Drattell presented an award to the acclaimed soprano Lauren Flanigan who is a champion of contemporary opera. Schickele was joined by St. Paul Sunday Morning-host Bill McGlaughlin to present an award to WNYC, New York's premier Public Radio station for 75 years of enlightened broadcasting featuring the music of our time. Program coordinator John Schaefer, director of cultural programming Fred Child, music director Hester Furman, and announcer David Garland were on hand to accept the award. Susan Feder, Vice President of G. Schirmer/AMP, presented an award to recent Academy Award winning composer John Corigliano who in turn presented an award to concert music's foremost Art Song composer Ned Rorem after which Lauren Flanagan performed two of his songs. Paul Lansky presented an award to trailblazing composer Morton Subotnick, eulogizing him by saying that centuries from now people will instantly have a sonic picture in their mind when they hear the name "Subotnick" just as we now have when we hear the name "Chopin." Schickele presented an award to music publisher Arnold Broido, for his commitment to American composers, Tania Léon presented an award to John Duffy, Emmy Award-winning composer and Founder of Meet The Composer; and Bang On A Can-cofounder David Lang presented an award to composer and renowned teacher Martin Bresnick. Melinda Wagner, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in Music, and composer and composer/clarinetist Derek Bermel (both former Morton Gould Young Composer Award winners) were joined by ASCAP's Cia Toscanini for the presentation of the Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. The ceremony concluded with a performance of the 3rd Movement of Jefferson Friedman's String Quartet No. 2, the recipient of this year's top honor in the Young Composer Awards - the Leo Kaplan Award, which comes with an additional cash prize and is named in memory of the distinguished jurist and music lover who served from 1967-1995 as ASCAP's Special Distribution Advisor. The reception was followed by a catered reception in the marble lobby of the Juilliard Theater.

Established in 1979, this ASCAP Foundation program awards grants to composers under 30 years of age whose works are selected through a national competition. Morton Gould was President of ASCAP and The ASCAP Foundation from 1986 -1994. Among America's most eminent and versatile composers, Gould was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1995. The ASCAP Foundation honored his lifelong commitment to nurturing young creators by naming its annual Young Composer program in his memory following his death in 1996. The winning composers share over $30,000, including the annual Leo Kaplan Award, given in memory of the distinguished jurist and music lover who served from 1967 to 1995 as ASCAP Special Distribution Advisor.

Congratulating the award recipients, ASCAP Foundation President Marilyn Bergman said, "The Morton Gould Young Composer Awards provide recognition and remuneration to emerging creators under the age of 30. The award is an important professional milestone. We congratulate the award recipients who hail from all parts of the country, and thank the dedicated panel of ASCAP composers whose difficult task was to choose from among 406 submissions."

The Morton Gould Young Composer Award recipients for 2000 are:

Andrew Bishop, Ann Arbor, MI
Robert Bowen, Princeton, NJ
Julia Scott Carey, Wellesley, MA
Emily Doolittle, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Jason Freeman, Miami, FL
Jefferson Friedman, New York, NY
Jeremy Gill, Philadelphia, PA
Daniel Kellogg, New Haven, CT
Martin Kennedy, Tuscaloosa, AL
Matthew Lima, New York, NY
Marcus Macauley, Mercer Island, WA
David Mallamud, Jenkintown, PA
Marcus Maroney, New Haven, CT
James Matheson, Ithaca, NY
Robert Patterson, Ithaca, NY
Carlos Rafael Rivera, Los Angeles, CA
Philip Rothman, Buffalo, New York
Eric Samuelson, New York, NY
Noah Schwartz, Oakland, CA
Natasha Sinha, Milton, MA
Ari Streisfeld, Penn Valley, PA
Juliana Trivers, Brooklyn, NY
Mischa Zupko, Kalamazoo,MI

In addition, the following young composer participants in the competition were recognized by the judges with Honorable Mentions:

Dennis DeSantis, Rochester, New York
Stefan Freund, Bloomington, IN
Jennifer Blair Furr, Ann Arbor, MI
Robert Gross, Buchanan, MI
Matthew Guerrieri, Somerville, MA
John B. Hedges, Philadelphia, PA
Justin Merritt, Bloomington, IN
Carl Voss, New York, NY

The six ASCAP composers serving as judges in this year's competition were: Samuel Adler, Stephen David Beck, Martin Bresnick, Daniel Dorff, Paul Lansky and Martha Mooke.

The ASCAP Foundation is dedicated to supporting the American composer and encouraging the development of American music through educational programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships to young composers, music education programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists. The programs of The ASCAP Foundation are supported by contributions from ASCAP members and music lovers throughout the United States.