KYLE PEDERSON of Eagan MN s the winner of The American Prize in Composition, 2019, in the choral division (octavos), for his compositions entitled Can We Sing the Darkness to Light?; Psallite; In the Beginning; Stars; A Mighty Fortress is our God. KYLE PEDERSON was selected from applications reviewed recently from all across the United States. The American Prize is the nation’s most comprehensive series of non-profit competitions in the performing arts, unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, ensembles and composers in the United States based on submitted recordings. The American Prize was founded in 2009 and is awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts.
Link to official announcement: https://theamericanprize.blogspot.com/2019/05/winners-composers-choral-octavos-2018-19.html
The artist provided this biographical sketch:
Kyle Pederson is a Minneapolis-based composer, lyricist, pianist, and educator. He enjoys working at the intersection of the sacred and secular, and his lyrics and music invite the choir and audience to be agents of hope, grace, and compassion in the world. Kyle has won awards for his choral works from Cerddorion Choral Ensemble of NYC, National Lutheran Youth Choir, and Little Singers of Armenia. Recent commissions include AMIS International High School Honors Choir, TAISM International Choral Festival, Minnesota ACDA All-State High School Treble Chorus, and Choral Arts Initiative. Several of Kyle’s choral pieces are featured in the commercially released New Choral Voices Volume II and III by Ablaze Records. Kyle’s work also includes two critically acclaimed piano-based albums, Renewal and 12.25, both collections of acoustic hymn arrangements. Kyle has an undergraduate degree from Augustana University, a Masters Degree in Education from University of St. Thomas, and an MFA in Music Composition from Vermont College of Fine Art. Additional information and links to Kyle’s music can be found at kylepederson.com, with select scores available from Walton, Santa Barbara, Galaxy, and Carl Fischer music publishers.
Additional information about the competitions on the website:www.theamericanprize.org
For runners-up in this category and for additional winners already announced in 2018-19 in other competitions, please follow this link:
http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com/
Winners of The American Prize receive cash prizes, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition based on recorded performances. In addition to monetary rewards and written evaluations from judges, winners are profiled on The American Prize websites, where links will lead to video and audio excerpts of artist performances.
THE AMERICAN PRIZE—History & Judges
The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts grew from the belief that a great deal of excellent music being made in this country goes unrecognized and unheralded, not only in our major cities, but all across the country: in schools and churches, in colleges and universities, and by community and professional musicians.
With the performing arts in America marginalized like never before, The American Prize seeks to fill the gap that leaves excellent artists and ensembles struggling for visibility and viability. The American Prize recognizes and rewards the best America produces, without bias against small city versus large, or unknown artist versus well-known.
David Katz is the chief judge of The American Prize. Professional conductor, award-winning composer, playwright, actor and arts advocate, he is author of MUSE of FIRE, the acclaimed one-man play about the art of conducting. Joining Katz in selecting winners of The American Prize is a panel of judges as varied in background and experience as we hope the winners of The American Prize will be. Made up of distinguished musicians representing virtually every region of the country, the group includes professional vocalists, conductors, composers and pianists, tenured professors, and orchestra, band and choral musicians.
“Most artists may never win a Grammy award, or a Pulitzer, or a Tony, or perhaps ever even be nominated,” Katz said, “but that does not mean that they are not worthy of recognition and reward. Quality in the arts is not limited to a city on each coast, or to the familiar names, or only to graduates of a few schools. It is on view all over the United States, if you take the time to look for it. The American Prize exists to encourage and herald that excellence.”
By shining a light on nationally recognized achievement, winners of The American Prize receive world-class bragging rights to use in promotion right at home. “If The American Prize helps build careers, or contributes to local pride, or assists with increasing the audience for an artist or ensemble, builds the donor base, or stimulates opportunities or recruitment for winning artists and ensembles, then we have fulfilled our mission,” Katz said.
The American Prize is administered by Hat City Music Theater, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit performing arts organization based in Danbury, Connecticut.
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