Classical Recording Foundation Announces 2011 Award Winners

The Classical Recording Foundation (CRF) is pleased to announce the 2011 winners of its tenth annual Classical Recording Foundation Awards. Four prizes will be presented at the Foundation's Annual Awards Concert and Benefit at 8:00 pm on Monday, November 21, 2011 at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. The event, for which the public may purchase tickets, will feature CRF Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio performing trios by Schubert; the CRF Young Artist of the Year soprano Susanna Phillips performing selections from her solo debut album, Paysages; MAYA (Sato Moughalian, flute; John Haddfield, percussion; and Bridget Kibbey, harp) performing selections from The Book of Goddesses by CRF Composer of the Year Robert Paterson; and the piano duo Quattro Mani (Alice Rybak and Susan Grace) performing music by CRF Composer of the Year Arlene Sierra. The proceeds from the 2011 Classical Recording Foundation Award Ceremony and Benefit will go toward the 2012 Awards.

CRF's Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists of the Year, The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, are being honored for their new recording of the complete Schubert trios. Since making their debut at the White House for President Carter's Inauguration in January 1977, pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson have set the standard for performance of the piano trio literature. As one of the only chamber ensembles with all of its original members, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio balances the careers of three internationally-acclaimed soloists while making annual appearances at many of the world's major concert halls, commissioning spectacular new works, and maintaining an active recording agenda.

CRF's Young Artist of the Year, soprano Susanna Phillips, is being honored for her solo debut album Paysages, with music by Debussy, Messiaen, and Fauré, released on Bridge Records in October. The Alabama native has attracted special recognition for a voice of striking beauty and sophistication. Recipient of the Metropolitan Opera's 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award, she recently sang in the opening concert and Live from Lincoln Center broadcast of the Mostly Mozart Festival under the baton of Louis Langree. She will begin the 2011-12 season as the title character in Lucia di Lammermoor in a new production with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, directed by Catherine Malfitano. She will make her European debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, followed by Contessa Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at the Opera National de Bordeaux. Other operatic highlights include Musetta in Puccini's La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor with Minnesota Opera. Concert engagements this season include debuts with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the St. Louis Symphony, and a concert performance of Mozart's Idomeneo at the Ravinia Music Festival where she will sing the role of Ilia.

This year there are two winners of the CRF Composer of the Year Award - Robert Paterson and Arlene Sierra. Paterson will be honored for his album The Book of Goddesses, which will be released on December 6, 2011. The Book of Goddesses is inspired by a lavishly illustrated book of the same name by Kris Waldherr, which describes hundreds of female deities from a wide variety of cultures. Paterson chose nine goddesses to illustrate musically, drawing materials and styles from around the world. Paterson is currently Music Alive composer-in-residence with the Vermont Youth Orchestra, sponsored by Meet The Composer and the League of American Orchestras. Other honors include the Copland Award, awards from ASCAP, Meet The Composer, American Music Center and the American Composers Forum, and fellowships to Yaddo, MacDowell Colony and Aspen. His music has been described as having a "harmonic language comfortable with evoking glimpses of tonality. . . as part of an overall palette that encompasses modality, octatonicism, and post-tonal vignettes" (New Music Box). Orchestras and choirs that have performed his music include the Vermont Symphony, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Chamber Choir of Europe, Volti, Minnesota Orchestra and American Composers Orchestra. Paterson appears on recordings for Mode, Centaur, Capstone, and Riax and American Modern Recordings.

Arlene Sierra will be honored for The Music of Arlene Sierra, Vol. 1 on Bridge Records. An American composer based in London, Sierra is acclaimed for vivid, darkly energetic music that takes its impetus from rich sources including military strategy, Darwinian evolution, and game theory. Described by Time Out New York as "spry, savage, sly and seductive" and by The Guardian (UK) as "rewardingly knotty... the most distinctive and expressive of the evening," her works have been heard worldwide in performances by the Tokyo Philharmonic, the London Sinfonietta, New York City Opera VOX, ICE, Psappha, the Albany Symphony, Lontano, Collage New Music, the Schubert Ensemble and many others. Recent compositions include a piano concerto Art of War for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, a Cheltenham Festival commission Insects in Amber for the Carducci Quartet, and a New York Philharmonic commission for chamber orchestra, Game of Attrition.

About the Classical Recording Foundation:
The Classical Recording Foundation applies the universal model of philanthropically supported live concerts to the recording of new classical performances. Since 2002, when it was founded by Grammy Award winning producer Adam Abeshouse, it has supported more than 25 new recordings. Each Award is tied to a fund administered by the Foundation and the participating record company, to accomplish the tasks of recording and promoting the awardee's recording project. The Award selection process begins with nominations by internationally renowned artists and scholars. Nominees are considered by an anonymous Grant Award Committee, which annually decides on the recipients and Award amounts. Criteria for Classical Recording Foundation Awards include artistic merit of the project, historic significance, strategic value to the artist's career, and breadth of interest. Unlike major labels, which are profit driven and therefore can commit only to a limited number of artists and repertoire, CRF encourages artists to release performances of their choosing, of music about which they are passionate.

Recent Classical Recording Foundation award recipients continue to receive accolades and success. Last year's CRF Young Artist of the Year, pianist Soyeon Lee, recently won the 2010 Naumburg International Piano Competition. Pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who was honored in 2006 and 2007, received the prestigious Diapason D'or Award for her Bach Goldberg Variations recording and has recently signed an exclusive recording agreement with Sony. Cellist Zuill Bailey, also honored in 2006 and 2007, joined the Telarc label and has since released an acclaimed recording of Bach's solo cello works as well as a recording of the Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich Cello Concerti (supported by CRF) with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. CRF's Composer of the Year for 2008, Justin Dello Joio, has been commissioned to write a piano concerto for Garrick Ohlsson. CRF, in collaboration with Bridge records, received its first Latin Grammy Nomination for Best Contemporary Composition for Barcelonazo, music for orchestra by Jorge Liderman. The Foundation was fortunate to receive a Copland Grant that provided partial funding of this recording. In 2008, CRF was awarded three Aaron Copland Grants, an Argosy Grant, and received continued support from the National Endowment for the Arts for its work on a new DVD release about eminent American composer George Crumb.

Artists who have benefited from CRF's support in previous years include the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, the Kalish-Krosnick Duo, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Anne-Marie McDermott, Benita Valente, The Juilliard String Quartet, Andres Díaz, Judith Gordon, George Crumb, the Harmonie Ensemble, Paul Moravec, Inon Barnatan, Stephen Jaffe, Benjamin Verdery, Giora Schmidt, Rohan De Silva, Simone Dinnerstein, Zuill Bailey, The Daedalus String Quartet, Michael Harrison, Vassily Primakov, Justin Dello Joio, and Richard Wernick.

CRF does not benefit from record sales or royalties, and depends entirely on support from generous individuals and corporations, as well as merit-based grants from public and private sources. Classical Recording Foundation Board Members include Robert W. Jones; Dr. Julius H. Jacobson II, MD; Neil Yelsey; Dimitri Sogoloff; and Adam Abeshouse, producer.

Tickets & Information: $75+ donation (Concert only) and $250+ donation (Concert and Reception).
Tickets available online at www.classicalrecordingfoundation.org. Attire is festive, but not formal.