Got Health Insurance?
With the issue of health insurance so much a mainstream focus at the moment, the Future of Music Coalition is conducting a musician-focused coverage survey. They are looking at such factors as: Has the number increased or decreased over the last eight years? What are the factors that make it difficult to get insured? Do musicians know about the plans offered by some unions and professional organizations? If you are a musician or composer and can spare 10 minutes of your time, the survey is here. read more
By Molly Sheridan
Published: 3/8/2010

American Academy of Arts and Letters 2010 Music Award Winners Announced
The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced sixteen recipients of this year's awards in music, which total $170,000. The winners are: Shawn Brogan Allison, Daniel Asia, Philippe Bodin, Anna Clyne, Michael Djupstrom, David Felder, Pierre Jalbert, Jesse Benjamin Jones, James Lee III, Paula Matthusen, Eric Nathan, Clint Needham, James Primosch, Aaron J. Travers, Jude Vaclavik, and Roger Zare. read more
Published: 3/4/2010

New York City Opera Announces New Works Showcased in 11th Season of VOX
New York City Opera has announced the ten new operas that will be showcased in their annual readings of new works, the newly renamed the VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab. The program, now in its eleventh year, offers both emerging and established composers and librettists the opportunity to hear their previously unproduced works performed by NYCO soloists, orchestra, and chorus in readings that are free and open to the public. The event this year will take place at New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place, at Washington Square South) on Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1, 2010. read more
Published: 3/2/2010

ASCAP Announces 2010 Young Jazz Composer Awards Recipients
Recipients of the ASCAP Foundation's 2010 Young Jazz Composer Awards are Courtney Beadel, Jon Crowley, Ben Darwish, Jesse Elder, Divya Farias, Tyler Gilmore, Phillip Golub, Alex Heitlinger, Eric Hirsh, Florian Hoefner, Grace Kelly, Chase Morrin, Josh Moshier, Benjamin Rosenblum, Gabriel Santiago, Matt Savage, Geoffrey Sheil, Brandon Sherman, Elijah Shiffer, Laila Smith, Nathan Parker Smith, and Erica von Kleist. There were five additional composers who received honorable mention. read more
Published: 2/18/2010

2010 Grammy Award Highlights
Folks who follow the vagaries of the music business already know that the 52nd annual Grammy Awards ceremony occurred last night in Los Angeles. But, as has been the case for several years now, many of the awards deemed of "niche" interest were not part of the nationally televised broadcast. So while Taylor Swift has been all over the news today for winning the highly coveted Album of the Year award, attention should also be paid to the fact that Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto has received the 2010 Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. In addition, Arts Nova Copenhagen and Theatre of Voices won Best Small Ensemble Performance for their performance of David Lang's Pulitzer-winning piece The Little Match Girl Passion, while Best Surround Sound Album went to Transmigration, featuring the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Robert Spano in performances of works by Higdon, Samuel Barber, John Corigliano, and John Adams. Jazz awardees include Terence Blanchard, Kurt Elling, Chick Corea, the late Joe Zawinul, and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. read more
Published: 2/1/2010

Brad Mehldau Named Carnegie Debs Composer's Chair

Brad Mehldau Photo courtesy Carnegie Hall

Jazz composer-pianist Brad Mehldau has been appointed to hold the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall for the 2010-2011 season; he is the first jazz composer to ever be named to this position. Originally a three-season position, the Debs Chair was restructured in 2007 as a single year appointment in order to focus on a greater variety of composers. Highlights of Meldau's activities there during 2010-2011 will include a solo piano performance, a song recital featuring his music as well as a broad range of old and new repertoire by mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter accompanied by Mehdau, and the New York premiere of Highway Rider, his evening-length composition for jazz quintet and chamber orchestra featuring Mehldau and frequent collaborators saxophonist Josh Redman, bassist Larry Grenadier, and percussionists Jeff Ballard and Matt Chamberlain, with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra conducted by Scott Yoo. (The same forces have recorded the work on a two CD set that will be issued in March 2010 by Nonesuch Records.) In addition, Carnegie will present two masterclasses on improvisation and collaboration for piano soloists and jazz trios by Mehldau at the popular downtown New York club Le Poisson Rouge. read more
By Frank J. Oteri
Published: 1/27/2010

George Manahan to Lead American Composers Orchestra
George Manahan has been named music director of the American Composers Orchestra, the third since the orchestra's inception in 1977, following founding conductor Dennis Russell Davis and Steven Sloane. Manahan has already begun working closely with ACO's composer leadership—artistic director Robert Beaser and creative advisor Derek Bermel—in shaping ACO's 2010-11 season during which he will lead all three of ACO's concerts presented by Carnegie Hall in Zankel Hall. These concerts will continue the orchestra's focus on emerging and mid-career American composers, combined with works by seminal composers such as Charles Ives, Jacob Druckman, and John Luther Adams. The season will also see the continuation of ACO's Playing it UNSafe program, a professional laboratory for the creation of cutting-edge new orchestral music; as well as the world premiere of the second work commissioned as part of ACO's innovative partnership with luxury goods company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. The new orchestral work will reflect on the theme of "A Greener New York City," emphasizing the connection between new music and the issues of today. At the end of the current season, Manahan will also conduct ACO's Underwood New Music Readings on May 21 and 22, 2010. read more
Published: 1/20/2010

Martin Kennedy Receives $5,000 ASCAP Foundation Nissim Prize
Composer and pianist Martin Kennedy has been named the recipient of The ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize. The prize was awarded for Trivial Pursuits, an eight-minute work for violin and orchestra. The work was selected from more than 220 submissions. Kennedy receives a $5,000 cash prize. The Nissim Jury also recognized the following composers for Special Distinction: Clint Needham (Bloomington, IN) for the Body Electric, a nine-minute work for orchestra; and Matthew Peterson (Grand Forks, ND) for Reflections on the Death of the Beloved, a 15-minute work for symphonic band. read more
Published: 1/20/2010

ASCAP Recognizes Adventurous Chamber Music Programming
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers will recognize nine chamber music and jazz ensembles, festivals, and presenters for their adventurous programming at the annual Chamber Music America National Conference on January 17, 2010, in New York City. read more
Published: 1/11/2010

Jonathan Howard Katz Wins 2010 Robert Helps Composition Competition

Jonathan Howard Katz

Composer/pianist Jonathan Howard Katz has won the fifth annual Robert Helps Prize in Composition, a $10,000 cash award sponsored by the University of South Florida School of Music. The premiere performance of Katz's winning work, Talking of Michelangelo (2009), will take place at the 2010 Robert Helps Festival on February 12, 2010 in Tampa, Florida. Entries submitted for consideration in the 2010 Competition had to be original unpublished compositions between 10 and 20 minutes in duration and scored for tenor voice and piano with the optional addition of one other instrument. No prepared piano could be used, but works featuring playing inside the piano were acceptable. The competition was only open to composers who will not have reached the age of 36 by February 14, 2010. All materials had to be submitted anonymously, marked only with a pseudonym of the composer's choice. Jurors for the 2010 competition were Louis Andriessen, Brad Diamond, Svetozar Ivanov, and Paul Reller. read more
Published: 12/23/2009

Columbia and ACO Partner For New Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute
The Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University and the American Composers Orchestra have announced a new collaborative project: the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute (JCOI). JCOI, which is generously supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, will provide instruction to jazz composers in working with the symphony orchestra, an area that many jazz composers wish to engage, but for which access to educational and performance opportunities are few. read more
Published: 12/23/2009

Sparr to Serve as Composer-In-Residence for Richmond Symphony's Youth Orchestra

D. J. Sparr

The Richmond Symphony has announced the launch of its Composer-in-Residence program in collaboration with local composer D.J. Sparr. The program will give students in the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra Program the opportunity to participate in classes, composition lessons and workshops with Sparr, who will work with the Richmond Symphony until June 2011. In addition to teaching and mentoring students, Sparr will also compose new works for Richmond Symphony's Youth Orchestra and for the members of the Symphony's Interactive Composition Class. read more
Published: 12/17/2009

Seven Musicians and Composers Awarded $50,000 for Artistic Excellence
The national artists' advocacy organization United States Artists has announced the recipients of fifty $50,000 USA Fellowship grants for artistic excellence, including seven to musicians. They are:

Rahim AlHaj, oud musician (Albuquerque, NM. USA Ford Fellow)

Cyro Baptista, percussionist (Tenafly, NJ. USA Walker Fellow)

Ella Jenkins, children's musician (Chicago, IL. USA Collins Fellow)

Danongan Kalanduyan, kulintang musician (San Francisco, CA. USA Broad Fellow)

Hannibal Lokumbe, composer and jazz trumpeter (Bastrop, TX. USA Cummings Fellow)

Lionel Loueke, jazz guitarist and vocalist (North Bergen, NJ. USA Prudential Fellow)

Daniel Plonsey, composer of new music (El Cerrito, CA. USA Broad Fellow)

Learn more about the fellows and United States Artists here. (—Condensed from the press release)
Published: 12/15/2009

ACF Names Six Recipients of First Nations Composer Initiative Common Ground Program Grants
Six grants ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 have been awarded to American Indian/Indigenous musical artists in the sixth round of grant making from First Nations Composer Initiative (FNCI), a program of American Composers Forum. The sixth round 2009 Common Ground grant recipients are: Joy Harjo (Mvskoke); Shirley Kendall and Maria Williams (Tlingit/Haida); Cheryl L'Hirondelle (Mestis/Cree-non status); Shelly Morning Song (Northern Cheyenne); Murray Porter (Mohawk); and Janet Rogers (Mohawk/Tuscarora). read more
Published: 12/10/2009

28 Composers Receieve a Total of $31K in AMC Composer Assistance Program Awards

The American Music Center (AMC) has awarded Composer Assistance Program grants totaling $31,000 to 28 American composers based in 12 states and ranging in age from 24 to 78. AMC annually awards grants that assist composers by helping them realize their music in premiere performances. Since 1962, the Composer Assistance Program (CAP) has provided over $2 million in support to American composers. Over 1,420 composers have received a CAP award at some point in their career, including Gordon Beeferman, Eve Beglarian, David Del Tredici, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Steve Reich. Composers must be members of the American Music Center to apply for an award. As of the October 2009 round, composers are now able to receive travel assistance to attend the premiere of the awarded work. The grants are intended to help composers take full advantage of performance opportunities that will enhance their careers. Ensembles and organizations premiering or featuring public readings of this most recent round of CAP-supported works include Ethel, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolis Ensemble, and Earplay.