“Phoenix” won second prize in The American Prize Competition
The American Prize is pleased to announce that Pacific Lutheran University Choir of the West, Richard Nance, conductor, Tacoma, WA, has achieved second place nationally in The American Prize in Choral Performance (college/university choir division), 2011.
The Pacific Lutheran University Choir of the West was founded in 1925, and was the third Lutheran college choir to tour extensively throughout the United States. The choir has toured Europe, Scandinavia, Japan and China, and has performed for conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and Music Educators National Conference. The choir performs several concerts each year, including shared concerts with PLU ensembles, the annual Christmas concert series, and campus ministry and celebratory events.
The American Prize is a series of new, non-profit, national competitions unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the very best in the performing arts in the United States. The American Prize was founded in 2009 and has been awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts since in 2010. Complete information on the website: www.theamericanprize.org. All 2011 competitions winners may be found on the blog: www.theamericanprize.blogspot.com.
The American Prize was founded 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 as 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.
Finalists for The American Prize receive professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition based on submitted recordings of their performances
David Katz is the chief judge of The American Prize. Professional conductor, award-winning composer, playwright, actor and arts advocate, Katz was the founder and for twelve years chief judge of the Friedrich Schorr Memorial Performance Prize in Voice international competition. 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 and as geographically diverse as Katz hopes the winners of The American Prize to be. Made up of distinguished musicians representing every region of the country, the group includes choral and orchestral conductors of professional, school, community and faith-based ensembles, tenured professors and orchestra and choral musicians.
“Many artists will likely never win a Grammy award, or a Pulitzer, or a Tony, or perhaps 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 the coasts, or to the familiar names, or only to graduates of the most famous 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 get world-class bragging rights to use in promotion right at home. “If The American Prize builds local pride, or helps increase the audience, or grows the donor base, or stimulates recruitment for winning ensembles and their conductors, then we have fulfilled our mission,” Katz said.
Annual competitions of The American Prize include those for orchestras, opera and musical theater companies, choruses, pianists, vocalists, composers and conductors. Complete information is published to The American Prize website and blog.
The American Prize is administered by Hat City Music Theater, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit performing arts organization based in Danbury, Connecticut.