VIVA VOCE CHAMBER SINGERS wins The American Prize

CONTACT: David Katz, chief judge of The American Prize
EMAIL: theamericanprize [at] gmail.com

WEBSITE: www.theamericanprize.org
BLOG: www.theamericanprize.blogspot.com

VIVA VOCE CHAMBER SINGERS wins The American Prize ERNST BACON MEMORIAL AWARD for the Performance of American Music, 2021, professional division, 2021

VIVA VOCE CHAMBER SINGERS, Nathan Zullinger, music director, is the winner of The American Prize ERNST BACON MEMORIAL AWARD for the Performance of American Music, 2021, in the professional large ensemble division, for their recording of the music of Curt Cacioppo. Viva Voce was selected from applications reviewed recently from across the United States. The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts, David (Volosin) Katz, founder and chief judge, is the nation's most comprehensive series of non-profit competitions in the musical and theater arts, unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, ensembles and composers in the United States based on submitted recordings. The American Prize was founded in 2009 and is awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts. (theamericanprize.org)

Link to official announcement: http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com/2021/10/winners-bacon-award-american-music.html

Ernst Bacon (1898—1990) was one of that pioneering generation of composers who, along with Thomson, Copland, Harris, and others, found a voice for American music. Winner of a Pulitzer Scholarship (for his Symphony in D minor) and no fewer than three Guggenheim Fellowships, Ernst Bacon set out to create compositions that expressed the vitality and affirmative spirit of our country. It is fitting, and with honor, that The American Prize creates an annual award in the memory of Ernst Bacon, recognizing the finest performances of American orchestral music worldwide. To learn more about the music & legacy of Ernst Bacon, please visit the website of the Ernst Bacon Society.[http://www.ernstbacon.org/]

The artists provided these biographical sketches:

Viva Voce Chamber Singers was organized in 2019 to participate in a concert featuring the work of composer Curt Cacioppo. The twenty-member group consists of professional choral singers from the Philadelphia region and beyond. Many of these individuals are active as educators, conductors, and solo performers. The recording and performance of Women of Ancient Greek Myth marks the debut of this ensemble, which will periodically present significant contemporary choral works for the benefit of the greater Philadelphia audience.

Nathan Zullinger is an Assistant Professor of Music at Haverford College, where he conducts the Chorale and Chamber Singers, guides the vocal studies program, and teaches studio and classroom courses in the Department of Music. Through the Bi-College Partnership, he also teaches students from Bryn Mawr College. Dr. Zullinger graduated from Chambersburg (PA) Area Senior High School and Messiah College before receiving his Masters and Doctoral degrees in conducting from Boston University. Dr. Zullinger has taught at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of Rhode Island and has served as Director of Music at churches in Massachusetts and North Carolina. He also performs frequently as a collaborative pianist and organist. His choral editions and arrangements are published by Morningstar and Colla Voce.

Curt Cacioppo (b. 1951, Ravenna, OH) has composed for the Chicago Symphony and Milwaukee Symphony orchestras, the Emerson String Quartet, and hosts of other top ensembles and soloists worldwide. He received a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Howard Foundation Fellowship, among numerous other prizes. His CD Ritornello with the Quartetto di Venezia on Navona earned a Grammy® nomination. Cacioppo’s principal mentors were Leon Kirchner and George Rochberg. Ivan Tcherepnin was an important influence, along with jazz artists Bill Dobbins, Chuck Israels and Pat Pace. He holds degrees from Harvard University, NYU and Kent State. A chaired professor at Haverford College, and prior a junior professor at Harvard, serving there also as Director of Undergraduate Studies in Music, Cacioppo concluded his academic career in 2020 to pursue creative and pianistic activities exclusively. For more information, visit http://www.curtcacioppo.com/.

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Additional information about the competitions on the website: www.theamericanprize.org

For runners-up in this category and for additional winners already announced in 2021 in other competitions, please follow this link: 

http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com/

Winners of The American Prize receive cash prizes, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition based on recorded performances. In addition to monetary rewards and written evaluations from judges, winners are profiled on The American Prize websites, where links will lead to video and audio excerpts of artist performances. 

THE AMERICAN PRIZE—History & Judges

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts grew 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 like 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.

David Katz is the chief judge of The American Prize. Professional conductor, award-winning composer, playwright, actor and arts advocate, 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 as we hope the winners of The American Prize will be. Made up of distinguished musicians representing virtually every region of the country, the group includes professional vocalists, conductors, composers and pianists, tenured professors, and orchestra, band and choral musicians.

“Most artists may 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 a city on each coast, or to the familiar names, or only to graduates of a few 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 receive world-class bragging rights to use in promotion right at home. “If The American Prize helps build careers, or contributes to local pride, or assists with increasing the audience for an artist or ensemble, builds the donor base, or stimulates opportunities or recruitment for winning artists and ensembles, then we have fulfilled our mission,” Katz said.

The American Prize is administered by Hat City Music Theater, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit performing arts organization based in Danbury, Connecticut.

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The American Prize is administered by Hat City Music Theater, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Danbury, CT.