Thursday, June 12, 2014

Summer Music Festival Earns ASCAP Award

Sewanee Summer Music Festival is one of 27 American orchestras to be honored with a 2013–14 ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming at the League of American Orchestras National Conference in early June. 

Sewanee Summer Music Festival (SSMF) was selected as the second-place recipient in the festival category, along with first-place winner Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (Santa Cruz, Ca.) and third-place recipient Aspen Music Festival and School (Aspen, Colo.). 

SSMF was selected for this award because of its contemporary programming in the 2013–14 season, featuring works from composers such as Mason Bates, Jan Bach and Thomas Sleeper, as well as a commissioned piece by current SSMF artist-faculty member Sidney King. The League and ASCAP present the awards each year to orchestras of all sizes for programs that challenge the audience, build the repertoire, and increase interest in new music. Approximately $750,000 has been bestowed on orchestras since the awards were established in 1947. 


“We are humbled to be presented with this award,” said Katherine Lehman, festival director. “To be recognized by ASCAP and the League of American Orchestras is a huge honor. Sewanee Summer Music Festival believes the exploration of new music is vital to artistic and cultural growth, both in Middle Tennessee and in the global music arena.”
The Sewanee Summer Music Festival is an internationally acclaimed summer festival combining a month-long program for advanced music students and a professional concert series. This year’s Festival will be June 21–July 20. A major highlight of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival 2014 repertoire is a world premiere of an original work by banjo virtuouso Béla Fleck on July 19. Other contemporary music highlights will include Kevin Puts’ “Millennium Canons,” Michael Daughtery’s “Raise the Roof” for timpani and orchestra (featuring soloist John Kilkenny), and a performance of Fleck’s “The Imposter” at the concert on July 20. Tickets and this season’s full calendar of events can be found at <sewaneemusicfestival.org>.

Selective enrollment of students from around the world, a unique curriculum, frequent performance opportunities and close mentoring with renowned artists position the young musicians at Sewanee Summer Music Festival as leaders in a changing musical landscape.

The League of American Orchestras leads, supports, and champions America’s orchestras and the vitality of the music they perform. 

“We are proud to partner with ASCAP in recognizing the ever-growing commitment of America’s orchestras to the music of our time,” said League President and CEO Jesse Rosen.

The League’s diverse membership of approximately 800 orchestras across North America runs the gamut from world-renowned symphonies to community groups, from summer festivals to student and youth ensembles. The only national organization dedicated solely to the orchestral experience, the League is a nexus of knowledge and innovation, advocacy and leadership advancement for managers, musicians, volunteers and boards. Its conferences and events, award-winning Symphony magazine, website and other publications inform music-lovers around the world about orchestral activity and developments. Founded in 1942 and chartered by Congress in 1962, the League links a national network of thousands of instrumentalists, conductors, managers and administrators, board members, volunteers and business partners. Visit <americanorchestras.org> to learn more.

Established in 1914, ASCAP is the first and leading U.S. performing rights organization representing the world’s largest repertory, totaling over 9 million copyrighted musical works of every style and genre from more than 500,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members. ASCAP has representation arrangements with similar foreign organizations so that the ASCAP repertory is represented in nearly every country around the world where copyright law exists. ASCAP protects the rights of its members and foreign affiliates by licensing the public performances of their copyrighted works and distributing royalties based upon surveyed performances. 

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