ASCAP honors composers

The 13th annual ASCAP Concert Music Awards will take place on Thursday, May 24, 2012 at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center in New York City. ASCAP member, composer, musician, and author Peter Schickele will host the invitation-only event, which will recognize the achievements of ASCAP’s 2012 Concert Music Honorees who represent the diverse aesthetic spectrum of the concert music world. Among the evening's presenters will be Eve Beglarian, David Del Tredici, Joan La Barbara, Paul Lansky, Terrance McKnight, Paul Moravec, Tamar Muskal, Stephen Paulus, Melinda Wagner, Doug Wood, Randall Woolf, and ASCAP’s Paul Williams, Frances Richard, Michael Spudic, and Cia Toscanini.
The 2012 Honorees are:
ASCAP presents the Aaron Copland Award to distinguished ASCAP member, George Walker, in celebration of his 90th year and for his contribution to American music as a composer, pianist, educator, and exemplary musical citizen.

ASCAP presents the Victor Herbert Award to ASCAP member, Jim Staley, Co-Founder and President of Roulette, for more than 30 extraordinary years of presenting, commissioning, recording, and broadcasting innovative composers, musicians, sound and collaborative artists.

ASCAP celebrates Bridge Records (Becky Starobin (ASCAP member), President; David Starobin (ASCAP member), Director of Artists & Repertoire; Robert Starobin, Vice President; and Allegra R. Starobin, Associate Director) for their 30-year commitment to musical excellence and distinguished service to American music.

 ASCAP salutes Maestro Delta David Gier, Music Director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, a champion of American composers, and a courageous advocate for the music of our time. 

ASCAP presents the John Cage Award to Kathleen Supové, for the artistry and passion with which she performs, commissions, records, and champions the music of our time.

The ASCAP Foundation program honors the late Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and former ASCAP Foundation President Morton Gould’s lifelong commitment to encouraging young creators. The award-winning composers share prizes of approximately $42,000, including the Leo Kaplan Award, in memory of the distinguished attorney who served as ASCAP Special Distribution Advisor; the Charlotte V. Bergen Scholarship for a composer 18 years of age or younger; and a grant from The ASCAP Foundation Jack and Amy Norworth Fund. Jack Norworth generously dedicated the royalties from his great standards, "Shine On Harvest Moon" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" to benefit gifted, emerging composers. Award recipients receive complimentary copies of Sibelius notation software, generously donated by Avid, the company that creates technology used to make the most listened to, most watched and most loved music and media in the world. In addition, the award recipients are offered a free one year subscription to ScoreStreet, providing self-publishing composers business expertise and the ability to effectively promote their profiles and works through a searchable website. ScoreStreet will launch this summer.
 The 2012 Morton Gould Young Composer Award recipients are listed with their current residence, and place of origin: David Biedenbender of Ann Arbor, MI (Waukesha, WI); William David Cooper of Davis, CA (Rocky Mount, CA); Derek David of Boston, MA (Los Angeles, CA); Simon Frisch of New York, NY; Michael Gilbertson of New Haven, CT (Dubuque, IA); Ted Goldman of Rochester, NY (New York, NY); Peng-Peng Gong of New York, NY (Nanjing, China); Ross Griffey of Seabrook, TX (Nassau Bay, TX); Ted Hearne of Brooklyn, NY (Chicago, IL); David Hertzberg of New York, NY (Santa Monica, CA); Andrew Hsu of Philadelphia, PA (Fremont, CA); Emily Koh Waltham, MA (Singapore); Michael Lee of New York, NY (Atlanta, GA); Maxwell J. McKee of Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (Montclair, NJ); Jared Abraham Miller of New York, NY (Los Angeles, CA); Eric Nathan of New York, NY; Gity H. Razaz of New York, NY (Tehran, Iran); Kathryn Salfelder of Fairlawn, NJ (Paterson, NJ); Nathan Shields of Poughkeepsie, NY (Traverse City, MI); Mike Sweeney of Bloomington, IN (Albert Lea, MN); and Roger Zare of Ann Arbor, MI (Sarasota, FL).
The following composers received Honorable Mention: Anthony R. Green of Boulder, CO (Arlington, VA); Ian Ng of Long Island City, NY (Hong Kong, China); Michael Schachter of Ann Arbor, MI (Boston, MA); Matt Smith of Cleveland, OH (San Diego, CA); Francisco Castillo Trigueros of Chicago, IL (Mexico City, Mexico); and Clinton J. Wang of New Haven, CT (Toronto, Canada).
 The youngest ASCAP Foundation composer Award recipients range in age from 12 to 18 and are listed by state of residence: Miles Jefferson Friday, age 18 (WA); Tengku Ahmad Irfan age 13 (NY); Anna Larsen, age 12 (MA); Yeeren I. Low, age 15 (PA); John Peter Redmond, age 12 (NY); Thomas Reeves, age 17 (NY); Jonas Tarm, age 18 (IL); and Renata Vallecillo, age 12 (NJ). 
Honorable Mention in the youngest category: Gideon Broshy, age 18 (NY); Emily Elizabeth Brown, age 17 (MD); Thomas Feng, age 18 (CA); Sidarth Jayadev, age 14 (NY); Jake Landau, age 16 (CT); and Yeeray Low, age 17 (PA). The 2012 ASCAP composer/judges were: Samuel Adler, Eve Beglarian, Yotam Haber, Tamar Muskal, Roberto Sierra, Augusta Read Thomas and Randall Woolf.