ASCAP to Honor Hamlisch, Korie & Frankel, December 6

The ASCAP Foundation will honor composer Marvin Hamlisch with the Richard Rodgers Award during its 11th Annual Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, December 6, 2006, 5-7PM, at The Allen Room, 6th Floor, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center (Broadway at 60th Street) in New York City.

The Richard Rodgers Award was established by Dorothy Rodgers, widow of Richard, to recognize a veteran composer or lyricist of musical theatre for a lifetime of achievement in this great American art form. The Rodgers  Family Foundation funds the program. Rodgers, together with his main collaborators, Lorenz Hart and Oscar
Hammerstein II, wrote such Broadway classics as Pal Joey, Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I and The Sound of Music.

The recipient of three Academy Awards, a Tony, four Emmys, four Grammys and the Pulitzer Prize, Hamlisch has excelled in musical  theatre, film and television music and writing for the pop music charts. New York City native Hamlisch wrote the Academy Award-winning score for The Way We Were, and with lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman, wrote the film's Oscar-winning title song.  His third Academy Award was for his adaptation of Scott Joplin ragtime music for the score of The Sting.  Hamlisch's performance of Joplin's "The Entertainer" from the soundtrack topped the  charts. 

Hamlisch's Broadway musicals include They're Playing Our Song (co-written with Carole Bayer Sager) and A Chorus Line (co-written with Ed Kleban) - the Tony-winning A Chorus Line also was honored with the Pulitzer  Prize for Drama.  The show's original run, from 1975-1990, lasted nearly 15 years and over 6000 performances.  Last month, A Chorus Line returned to Broadway in a new production.

ASCAP Foundation President Marilyn Bergman said, "It is with great pleasure  that we honor Marvin Hamlisch with The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award.  He is a valued friend and collaborator and it is fitting that this brilliant musician, composer and conductor be recognized with this award.  His achievements in the musical theatre have been honored with Tonys and a Pulitzer Prize, and the new Broadway production of A Chorus Line is thrilling a whole new generation of theatre goers."

To celebrate the award to Hamlisch, there will be performances of Hamlisch  songs from The Sweet Smell of Success (Brian D'Arcy James), A Chorus Line (Liz Calloway) and The Way We Were (Alan Bergman).

Another of the evening's major awards is the Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, which recognizes emerging musical theatre talent.  This year, the award honors the lyricist/composer team of Michael Korie and Scott Frankel, who are currently enjoying their first Broadway musical hit with Grey Gardens.  Christine Ebersole, who stars in the show, will be on hand to help honor Korie and Frankel with a performance from the show.

Other performance highlights will feature Robert Allen Award recipient Rosi
Golan, Young Jazz Composer Award honorees Remy and Pascal Le Boeuf, and 12
year-old Conrad Tao who was among the youngest recipients of the 2006
Morton Gould Young Composer Awards.

Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards,  recognition and community outreach programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists.  The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States.  Visit www.ascapfoundation.org for more information.