ASCAP Celebrates Established and Emerging Talent

ASCAP Celebrates Established and Emerging Talent

Thirty-two young composers honored with 2003 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Awards.

Written By

Amanda MacBlane



Thirty-two young composers were honored with 2003 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Awards at a full-day celebration held in New York City. Any composer under the age of 30 is eligible to win a Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and composers are selected through a juried national competition. This year’s recipients ranged in age from 11 to 29, and contributed works that ranged from solo instrumental pieces to full symphonies.

The day’s festivities began with an informal listening session where an audience of award-winners and industry types was treated to some of these works including two piano sonatas, the first by 17-year old Timothy Andres and a second by recent Juilliard Masters degree recipient Stewart Goodyear. Andrew McKenna Lee, just returned from two months of residencies at Yaddo and MacDowell, gave an inspiring performance of his Scordatura Suite for solo guitar, and Orianna Webb played a recording of her Leo Kaplan Award-winning orchestral work Xylem. Webb, who received her PhD. from Yale shortly after receiving her award, was given an extra cash prize for taking home the top honor.

After the performances, the young composers were recognized during the fourth annual ASCAP Concert Music Awards ceremony hosted by Peter Schickele. A statement sent by ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board Marilyn Bergman and read by Vice President of Concert Music Frances Richard, extended the praise. “I can only tell you that if Morton Gould were here this day, he would be so pleased and so proud to be acknowledging you talents and encourage you to even greater heights.”

Of course, these greater heights are represented by the what ASCAP Chief Executive Officer John LoFrumento called “the achievements of outstanding citizens of the concert music world,” honored with the ASCAP Concert Music Awards as part of the same program. This year’s ASCAP member honorees included: Academy Award-winning composer Eliot Goldenthal; Julie Taymor, artistic director of film, opera and music theatre; librettist and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon; the New York Youth Symphony; George Steel, Executive Director of Columbia University’s Miller Theatre; Dale Warland, founder and conductor of the Dale Warland Singers; the College Band Directors National Association; and composer/teacher Samuel Adler. Acknowledging Adler’s commitment to education, four Morton Gould Award-winners—Martin Kennedy, Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, Nico Muhly, and Huang Ruo—wrote and performed short solo works dedicated to their former teacher: a perfect homage to the importance of a continuum between the established and the emerging.

ASCAP’s Concert Music Award honorees included:

Samuel Adler
College Band Directors National Association
Elliot Goldenthal
Paul Muldoon
New York Youth Symphony
George Steel
Julie Taymor
Dale Warland

For a list with photos and brief bios visit the ASCAP website.

2003 Morton Gould Young Composer Award Winners included:

Orianna Webb, Leo Kaplan Award Winner, (Akron, OH)
Judah Adashi (Boston, MA)
Patrick Burke (Pittsburgh, PA)
Anthony Cheung (San Francisco, CA)
Avner Dorman (Tel-Aviv, Israel)
Michael Djupstrom (St. Paul, MN)
Mathew Fuerst (Covins, CA)
Jeremy Gill (Philadelphia, PA)
Stewart Goodyear (Toronto, Canada)
Lane Harder (Houston, TX)
Daniel Kellogg (Wilton, CA)
Martin Kennedy (Tuscaloosa, AL)
Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum (New York, NY)
Andrew McKenna Lee (Charleston, SC)
Christopher Lee (Akron, OH)
John Mackey (New Philadelphia, OH)
Eli Marshall (Waterville, ME)
Nico Muhly (Randolph, VT)
Daniel Ott (Neptune City, NJ)
David Plylar (Peoria, AZ)
Philip Rothman (Buffalo, NY)
Huang Ruo (Hai Nan Island, China)
Matthew Van Brink (Port Jefferson, NY)
Dalit Warshaw (New York, NY)

For a complete with bios and photos of the winners visit the ASCAP website

The following composers were recognized with Honorable Mention:

Mark Berger (New Ulm, MN)
Kyle Blaha (Rochester, NY)
Robert Gross (Escondido, CA)
Jennifer Graham (Oakland, CA)
John Hedges (Wilmington, DE)
Vera Ivanova (Moscow, Russia)
Angel Lam (Hong Kong, China)
Sean McClowry (Rockford, IL)
Keith Murphy (Cambridge, UK)
Edward Niedermaier (Lake Minnetonka, MN)
Andrew Norman (Grand Rapids, MI)
Gordon Williamson (Ottawa, CA)

The awards for composers under the age of 18 include:

Timothy Andres (CT)
Peter Asimov (NY)
Julia Scott Carey (MA)
Ryan Gallagher (OH)
Kevin Kim (NJ)
Anna Lindemann (CO)
Marcus Macauley (WA)
Natasha Sinha (MA)

The following composers were recognized with Honorable Mention:

Kit Armstrong (CA)
Kyumin Lee (MA)
Tudor Dominik Maican (MD)
Michael Summa (PA)
Emilia Tamburri (NJ)
Joseph Trapanese (NJ)
Milena Zhivotovskaya (NY)