Classical Recording Foundation Announces 2009 Award Winners

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New York, NY—The Classical Recording Foundation (CRF) is pleased to announce the 2009 winners of its annual Classical Recording Foundation Awards. Four distinct prizes will be presented at the Foundation’s Eighth Annual Awards Ceremony and Benefit at 8:00 pm on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall (57th Street and 7th Avenue). The CRF Awards Ceremony and Benefit, for which the public may purchase tickets, will begin with CRF Young Artist of the Year Soyeon Lee performing Bach’s Chaconne from the Solo Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, as arranged for piano by Ferruccio Busoni. The program will also include performances by The Loma Mar >Quartet (Krista Bennion Feeney and Anca Nicolau, violins, Joanna Hood, viola, and Myron Lutzke, cello) with bassist John Feeney in Domenico Dragonetti’s Quintet No. 18; the Argento Ensemble in Imbrications and Three Diatonic Studies by CRF Composer of the Year Fred Lerdahl; and soprano Susan Narucki and pianist Donald Berman, recipients of the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artist Award, in selected songs by Charles Ives. In addition, the 2006 CRF Young Artists of the Year – the Daedalus String Quartet (Min-Young Kim and Kyu-Young Kim, violins, Jessica Thompson, viola, and Raman Ramakrishnan, cello) – will return to perform selections from Haydn’s String Quartet in G minor, Op. 20 No. 3, their recording of which was supported by the Foundation this year.

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 30 new recordings.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. The proceeds from the 2009 Classical Recording Foundation Award Ceremony and Benefit will go toward making the 2010 Awards possible.

Fred Lerdahl, the CRF Composer of the Year, will be honored for Music of Fred Lerdahl, Volume 2 (Bridge 9269). The album features his orchestral work Cross-Currents (1987), performed by the Odense Symphony Orchestra, Waltzes (1981) for violin, viola, cello and contrabass, Duo for violin and piano (2005), and Quiet Music for orchestra (1994). This disc presents a survey of the music of one of America's least known great composers. Fred Lerdahl's work has been much written about but rarely heard. Not a member of any school, he has forged his own path, writing works based on his own technique of expanding variations. At times tonal, at times atonal, these compositions sound like no one else's work.

The Loma Mar Quartet with John Feeney will receive the Classical Recording Foundation Award for their recording of Dragonetti’s New Academy (Bridge 9252). Bassist and early-music scholar John Feeney arranged the works on this recording which marks the first transcription and recording of this largely unknown music by Italian double-bass virtuoso and composer Domenico Dragonetti. Mr. Feeney engaged in an extensive study of Dragonetti’s manuscript collection in the British Museum, poring over the large collection. He and the quartet now introduce these undiscovered gems to modern performers and scholars through this important and engaging premiere recording.

The recipients of the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artist Award are soprano Susan Narucki and pianist Donald Berman. They are being awarded this honor for The Light that is Felt – Songs of Charles Ives (New World Records 80680. This new recording features 27 songs by Charles Ives, beautifully rendered by renowned soprano Susan Narucki and pianist Donald Berman, who is widely respected as an authority in the interpretation and performance of Ives’ music.

The 2009 winner of the CRF Young Artist Award is pianist Soyeon Lee. She receives this award for her recording Re!nvented (Koch Records KIC-CD-7759). Ms. Lee presents an unprecedented platform for bringing exceptional classical music and environmental awareness together through her unique program, Re!nvented. The CD features selections that have in some way been reused, transcribed, or wholly revisited. The packaging for this release is made from chip bags collected by millions of school children in North America, and the CD is encased in a sleeve made from shredded and compressed Frito Lay bags.

About The Classical Recording Foundation: The Classical Recording Foundation was founded to catalyze and stimulate the classical music recording field by providing seed funding to record labels and artists of merit for recording projects. The projects are intended not only to enhance the classical catalog but to awaken both new and seasoned audiences to the joy of hearing great performances by committed and extraordinary artists. 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.

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. 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.

Recent Classical Recording Foundation award recipients continue to receive accolades and success. Pianist Anne Marie McDermott’s release of Prokofiev’s complete piano sonatas (Bridge 9298) has received great critical acclaim. Pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who was honored in 2006 and 2007, received the prestigious Diapason D’or Award for her Bach Goldberg Variations recording. Cellist Zuill Bailey, also honored in 2006 and 2007, signed an exclusive record contract with Telarc, and has released a recording of the Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich Cello Concerti, supported by CRF, with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. The 2007 CRF Composer of the Year, 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 for 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. This DVD is due for release in December 2009.

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.

Annual Awards Ceremony & Benefit

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 8 pm

Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall

Fred Lerdahl

CRF Composer of the Year for Music of Fred Lerdahl, vol. 2 (Bridge 9269)

The Loma Mar String Quartet with John Feeney

CRF Award for Dragonetti’s New Academy (Bridge 9252) for premiere recording of Domenico Dragonetti’s unpublished String Quintets

Donald Berman and Susan Narucki

Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artist Award for The Light that is Felt – Songs of Charles Ives (New World Records 80680)

Soyeon Lee, piano

CRF Young Artist of the Year for Re!nvented (Koch Records KIC-CD-7759)

Who: Classical Recording Foundation 2009 Awards Ceremony & Benefit

Program: Performances by the Argento Chamber Ensemble playing music by Fred Lerdahl, the Loma Mar Quartet with John Feeney performing Dragonetti’s Quintet No. 18, Susan Narucki and Donald Berman presenting songs by Charles Ives, Soyeon Lee performing the Bach-Busoni Chaconne; and the Daedalus Quartet performing music by Haydn

When: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 8 pm

Where: Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and 7th Avenue, NYC

Tickets & Information: Call 914.738.8754 or visit www.classicalrecordingfoundation.org

$75 donation (Award Ceremony only) and $250+ donation (Award Ceremony and Reception).

Attire: Festive but not formal

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