The Aaron Copland Fund for Music has awarded grants totaling $500,000 to performing ensembles, presenters and recording companies across the U.S. through its 2006 Recording Program. Forty-five organizations received support for new releases and for reissues of contemporary American music.
The Fund received applications for 173 projects from organizations requesting a total of more than $2.3 million. An independent five-person panel reviewed the applications, discussed their relative merits and made award determinations for 66 projects. Among the recording projects supported are the Glimmerglass Opera’s recording of Stephen Hartke’s opera The Greater Good; a DVD of John Cage’s 49 Waltzes for the 5 Boroughs; a recording of music by Justin Dello Joio featuring Garrick Ohlsson, Ani Kavafian, Carter Brey, and Jeremy Denk; and a recording of the music of Pat Muchmore by Anti-Social Music.
“We are grateful to our panel for their strenuous and devoted work on an ever-expanding group of applications to our Recording Panel,” stated John Harbison, president of the Fund. “Their choices reflect a commitment to the preservation of our heritage—Sessions, Cage, Nancarrow, Harrison, Partch—while staying alert for new, energizing talent: Magnussen, Morton, Muchmore, Ueno.”
Aaron Copland created the Fund and bequeathed to it a large part of his estate. The Fund’s purpose is to encourage and improve public knowledge of contemporary American music. In addition to the Recording Program, the Fund established a Performing Ensembles Program and a Supplemental Program for service organizations and other non-profit institutions. The Recording Program and Performing Ensembles Program are administered by the American Music Center (AMC), a national service and information center for new American music.
A complete list of grantees is available at www.amc.net/about/news/2006.0809.rec.html.
The next postmark deadline for applications to the Recording Program is January 16, 2007. Complete guidelines and applications are available at www.amc.net.
