ASCAP/IAJE Commissioned Works Honors Marian McPartland in Toronto

ASCAP member Marian McPartland, the innovative and prolific jazz pianist/composer and award-winning host of Piano Jazz, the NPR radio program which is celebrating its 25th year, was feted at this year's IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) conference in Toronto. McPartland was a featured artist in a concert and was interviewed by Tim Owens during a session of the conference.

In addition, two new jazz works composed in celebration of McPartland's birthday and commissioned by the annual ASCAP/IAJE Commissions program, were premiered at the conference. The commissionees are Robin Eubanks in the Established Composer category and John Hollenbeck in the Emerging Composer category. McPartland was present for the premiere of both works in her honor: Full Circle (Eubanks) and Folkmoot (Hollenbeck).

The ASCAP/IAJE commissions program, now in its sixth year, has previously honored Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, the Duke Ellington Centennial, the Louis Armstrong Centennial and Dr. Billy Taylor, respectively.

2003 Guggenheim Fellowship Awards

Results of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation's seventy-ninth annual United States and Canadian competition have been announced. Among this year's Fellowship winners (pictured above, left to right) are ASCAP members Martin Bresnick, Alvin Singleton and Harold Meltzer for Concert music and Henry Threadgill for Jazz. Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment.

Libby Larsen Named to Library of Congress Post

Composer Libby Larsen has been named to the Harissios Papamarkou Chair in Education and Technology in the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress beginning in June. The holder of this chair addresses issues of education and technology that have an impact on the Library of Congress and the nation. Larsen will work to connect music education organizations with artists to plan new ways for arts educators and world-class artist practitioners to work together. In addition, she will work to organize "The Global Green Room," bringing together leading practicing artists to identify issues concerning "the soul" of America's culture and to create ways in which artists may regularly interact with each other and with the population at large through technology.

Consistently sought-after as a leader in the generation of millenium thinkers, Larsen's music and ideas have refreshed the concert music tradition and the composer's role in it.

Susan Botti appointed Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced the appointment of Susan Botti as its third Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow. For the next two seasons, Botti, a Cleveland native, will write a short orchestra work in the 03-04 season and a larger commissioned work in 04-05. In addition, she will be in residence with the orchestra for chamber music, master classes and community outreach.

As both a composer and a singer, Botti's multifaceted abilities make her unique in the concert world. She specializes in the performance of contemporary music by composers of diverse styles. Among others, Tan Dun has created several major works which highlight her vocal and theatrical talents.

Botti is also an Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Adventurous Programming Awards Presented at Chamber Music America Conference

ASCAP recently honored 17 chamber music ensembles, festivals and presenters for their adventurous programming during the 2002 concert season, at Chamber Music America's Annual Conference in New York City at the Hilton Hotel. These ASCAP Awards, presented for the sixteenth year, are made in recognition of performances of the music of our time, with specific emphasis on works written since 1975.

The presentation of Awards was highlighted with the introduction of the many ASCAP composers present (pictured above) and a reception. Also pictured (below left, l-r) are ASCAP's Fran Richard, award winner William Ryan and ASCAP's Cia Toscanini, and (below center) Chamber Music America Founder Michael Jaffe, Richard and the CMA's Margaret Lioi celebrating the CMA's 25th Anniversary. Pictured below right is the Miller Theatre's George Steel with Richard and Toscanini.