CHORUSES, CONDUCTORS, COMPOSERS, SOLOISTS and INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLES recognized for excellence.
The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts is proud to sponsor, with the enthusiastic support of the Ernst Bacon Society, The American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music.
Ernst Bacon (1898—1990) was one of that pioneering generation of composers who, along with Thomson, Copland, Harris, and others, found a voice for American music. Winner of a Pulitzer Scholarship (for his Symphony in D minor) and no fewer than three Guggenheim Fellowships, Ernst Bacon set out to create compositions that expressed the vitality and affirmative spirit of our country.
The Ernst Bacon Award is in many ways the most comprehensive of all the contests of The American Prize, attracting soloists, ensembles, conductors and composers, the only one of The American Prize competitions to also allow international applicants, focusing exclusively on the performance of music by Americans from all periods and in all styles. For these many reasons, the announcement of the winners Ernst Bacon Award is given pride-of-place—-the last results of the contest year to be published. The 2017-18 announcements have now been made and I am happy to share those links.
SOLO ARTISTS: http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com/2018/08/ernst-bacon-award-american-music.html
ENSEMBLES: http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com/2018/08/ernst-bacon-award-american-music_3.html
There are hidden gems of American music everywhere, waiting for conductors to discover them—-excellent music new and old, in every style and to interest every taste. We must make the effort to discover what is there, and program what strikes us, and then perform it with spirit and enthusiasm, ready to challenge the naysayers and those hidebound to routine, and to what Varese called the *bad habits* of tradition.
In an age when diversity and inclusion are the watchwords everywhere, let us seek to be truly inclusive in our programming, still honoring the great traditions we all cherish, but more often than ever before as spoken by voices too long forgotten or too often underperformed.
All best,
David Katz, chief judge
The American Prize
www.theamericanprize.org
www.museoffiretheplay.org
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