The American Prize Explained
The American Prize is a set of annual nonprofit national competitions in the performing arts which recognizes and rewards commercial and noncommercial recorded performances of classical music in the United States based on submitted applications. There is no live competition.[1] The award is bestowed at professional, college/university, community, and high school levels in a number of areas including composition, piano, voice, chamber music, conducting, and ensemble performance.[2] [3] The jury consists of well known performing artists in each area, with the conductor and composer David Katz serving as chief judge.[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Artists and ensembles self-nominate through an application process or are nominated by a teacher, parent, board member or colleague.[11] Evaluation is a key component of the competition; applicants who reach finalist status or higher receive a written evaluation from a member of the judging panel. Among judges are composer Judith Lang Zaimont, pianist Jeffrey Biegel, and Metropolitan Opera soprano Sharon Sweet.[12] Winners of each category receive a cash award.
Top prize winners
Winners of the first prize award by year in all professional categories.[13]
Composition
Piano
| Solo | Concerto |
|---|
| 2011 | Lin-Yu Wang | not awarded |
| 2012 | Nathanael May | Sarah S. Chan |
| 2013 | Petronel Malan | Anthony Michael Cornet |
| 2014 | Nassib Nassar | Kasandra Keeling |
| 2015 | Michael Angelucci | Bill John Newbrough |
| 2016 | Jeremy Samolesky | Thomas Yee |
| 2017 | Roberto Plano | Richard Bosworth |
| 2019-20 | Lei Weng | Anna Dmytrenko | |
Voice
| Opera / Operetta (women) | Opera / Operetta (men) | Art Song / Oratorio (women) | Art Song / Oratorio (men) |
|---|
| 2011 | Laura Strickling | Jonathan Beyer | Christine Steyer | Blake Friedman |
| 2012 | Suzanne Vinnik | Christian Ketter | Sharin Apostolou | Matthew Garrett |
| 2013 | Suzanne Vinnik | Christian Ketter | Emily Marvosh | Darren Chase |
| 2014 | Megan Marino | Mitchell Hutchings | Sarah Davis | Leo Rado |
| 2015 | Aundi Marie Moore | Peter Lightfoot | Tania Coambs | Jorell Williams |
| 2016 | Samantha Britt | Keith Brown | Margaret Lias | Stephen Lancaster |
| 2017-18 | Meredith Mecum | Ryan Francis Burns | Kristina Bachrach | Justin John Moniz |
| 2018-19 | Jacqueline Piccolino | Logan Tanner | Emily Yocum Black | Justin John Moniz |
| 2019-20 | Madison Marie McIntosh | Leo Radosavljevic | Ann Cravero | Bryan Pinkall | |
Chamber music
Orchestral
Choral
College/university prize winners
Winners of the first prize award by year in college/university categories.
Composition
| Orchestra | Choral | Chamber Music | Band | Opera / Theater / Film / Dance |
|---|
| 2013 | Roberto Kalb | Joshua Fishbein | not awarded | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2014 | Texu Kim | Saunder Choi | Rodrigo Bussad | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2015 | Patrick O’Malley | Kyle Randall | Derek David | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2016 | Jihyun Kim | Matthew Recio | Lara Poe | Derek Jenkins | Georgi Dimitrov (student division) |
| 2017 | Antonio Juan Marcos | (pending) | instrumental: Olga Amelkina-Vera /choral: (pending) | Tyler Bouque | Michele Cheng |
| 2023 | (pending) | Frank Duarte | (pending) | (pending) | (pending) | |
Voice
| Opera / Operetta (women) | Opera / Operetta (men) | Art Song / Oratorio (women) | Art Song / Oratorio (men) |
|---|
| 2015 | Sarah Bauer | Galeano Salas | Paulina Nastasha Yeung | not awarded |
| 2016 | Natalie Logan | Quinn Bernegger | Samantha Schmid | Quinn Bernegger |
| 2017 | tie: Sarah Cooper / Kellie Motter | Ben M. Reisinger | Lauren Elizabeth Walker | David John Davani | |
Orchestral
| Orchestral performance | Conducting |
|---|
| 2010 | Texas Chamber Group Orchestra | Ricardo Averbach, Oxford Chamber Orchestra |
| 2011 | University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra | Kenneth Kiesler, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra |
| 2012 | University of North Carolina Symphony Orchestra | Gemma New, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra |
| 2013 | not awarded | not awarded |
| 2014 | St. Olaf Orchestra | not awarded |
| 2015 | Baylor Symphony Orchestra | Boon Hua Lien, Eastman Philharmonia | |
Choral
Community prize winners
Winners of the first prize award by year in community categories.
Choral
External links
Notes and References
- http://midlandsbiz.whosonthemove.com/the-american-prize-rewards-the-best-recorded-performances-by-individual-artists-and-ensembles-in-the-u-s/ "The American Prize rewards the best-recorded performances by individual artists and ensembles in the U.S."
- Eiseman, Lee. "National Prize Recognizes Local Composer." The Boston Musical Intelligencer, September 24, 2014.
- "Michael Angelucci Wins the American Prize in Piano," The Peabody Post, November 16, 2015.
- Lewis, John. "Tom Hall & Choral Arts Win American Prize Awards." Baltimore, October 22, 2014.
- http://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/arts-culture/unlv-opera-director-wins-american-prize "UNLV Opera director wins American Prize."
- http://kcmetropolis.org/issue/september-17-2014/article/tara-curtis-places-second-in-the-american-prize-in-voice "Tara Curtis places second in The American Prize in Voice."
- http://artsnash.com/classicalmusic/elder-american-prize/ "Nashville composer Daniel Elder shines in the American Prize."
- http://northcountrynow.com/news/crane-director-wins-american-prize-opera-performance-menottis-opera-amahl-and-night-visitors-07 "Crane director wins 'The American Prize in Opera Performance' for Menotti's opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors."
- http://saratogatodaynewspaper.com/index.php/today-in-saratoga/education/item/2531-ssyo-places-third-nationally-in-the-american-prize-competition "SSYO Places Third Nationally in the American Prize Competition."
- http://www.ascap.com/playback/2012/06/faces-places/concert/american-prize.aspx "Composer Michael Gatonska Awarded The American Prize in Composition."
- Web site: FAQs. www.theamericanprize.org. Sep 11, 2019.
- Web site: Judges 2017-18. www.theamericanprize.org. en. 2018-04-15.
- Web site: The American Prize. theamericanprize.blogspot.com. 2018-04-15.
