Yehudi Wyner	Thelonious Monk

The $10,000 prize is awarded on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize board for a "distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance in the United States during the year." This year's jury for the music prize included fellow BMI composer and Pulitzer winner William Bolcom, jazz pianist and BMI composer Muhal Richard Abrams (who also served on the jury last year), Carnegie Hall Senior Director & Artistic Advisor Ara Guzelimian, musicologist George E. Lewis and jazz critic Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune.

The Pulitzer board also awarded world-renowned BMI jazz composer and pianist Thelonious Monk a special posthumous citation "for a body of distinguished and innovative musical composition that has had a significant and enduring impact on the evolution of jazz." The citation, like Duke Ellington's in 1999, acknowledges the longtime exclusion of jazz composers up until 1997 when Wynton Marsalis received it for Blood on the Fields. The board recently changed its rules to encourage the submission of jazz and other non-classical works.

Yehudi Wyner has composed more than 60 works including the 1998 Pulitzer Prize-nominated "Horntrio," commissioned by Worldwide Concurrent Premieres Inc. for 40 ensembles worldwide; "Commedia" (2002), commissioned by pianist Emanuel Ax and clarinetist Richard Stoltzman; "Praise Ye the Lord" (1996), a psalm for soprano and orchestra commissioned by Dawn Upshaw and the 92nd Street Y; and "Lyric Harmony" (1995), an orchestral work commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the American Composers Orchestra.

Born in Alberta, Canada, in 1929, Wyner grew up in New York City. He studied at the Juilliard School, Harvard and Yale, and after winning the Rome Prize in 1953, spent three years at the American Academy in Rome. As a pianist, he is a member of the Bach Aria Group and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician; he has also conducted chamber groups, vocal ensembles and operas.

Wyner has taught at Yale, the State University of New York at Purchase, Cornell, Harvard, Tanglewood and Brandeis, where he is Professor Emeritus of composition. He has won two Guggenheim fellowships and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Elise Stoeger Award for lifetime contributions to chamber music, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

First awarded in 1943, the Pulitzer Prize in Music has also been given to such BMI composers as Lewis Spratlan for the concert version of "Act II" of his three act opera, Life is a Dream (2000); John Adams for his September 11 tribute, "On the Transmigration of Souls" (2003); and Steven Stucky for his "Second Concerto for Orchestra" (2005).

Marc Ostrow, VP Business Affairs, Boosey & Hawkes and Hendon Music; Jenny Bilfield, President, Boosey & Hawkes and Hendon Music; BMI composer John Adams; BMI's Doreen Ringer Ross; Danielle Bond, Label Liaison/Creative TV, Warner Music Group; and Peter Golub, Sundance Institute

This event was a groundbreaking first by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which presented a wide-ranging survey of minimalism. Under Adam's watchful ear, the Minimalist Jukebox Festival reflected on where we've been, the current state of the art, and things to come.

Shown at the reception are (l-r): BMI's Doreen Ringer Ross, BMI composer John Adams and the Sundance Institute's Peter Golub.

BMI composer John Adams has been heralded worldwide for a unique style that harnesses the rhythmic energy of minimalism to the harmonies and orchestral colors of late romanticism. He brought contemporary history to the opera house with his post-modern music theater works "Nixon in China" (1987) and "The Death of Klinghoffer" (1991), and has addressed urgent social issues in "I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky," "El Dorado" and "The Wound-Dresser."

Adams was awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Music for "On the Transmigration of Souls," a composition commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to commemorate the victims of the World Trade Center attacks. His works have been performed worldwide by great orchestras and opera companies, and are widely used by choreographers. He is the recipient of the 1995 Grawemeyer Award for his "Violin Concerto" and the 2004 Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Musical Composition.]]> 2006-04-12T18:00:01-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/234467 Sheehan, Joseph, Adams, John, Babbitt, Milton, Bryant, Del, Crumb, George, Schwantner, Joseph, Classical, Foundation, BMI Student Composer Awards Composer George Crumb Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Eight young classical composers, ranging in age from 10 to 25, have been named winners in the 53rd Annual BMI Student Composer Awards. Del R. Bryant, BMI President & CEO, announced the decisions of the jury and presented the awards at a reception held June 6 at Le Parker Meridien Hotel in New York City. Composer Milton Babbitt, Chairman of the awards, and Ralph N. Jackson, President of the BMI Foundation, Inc. and Director of the awards, joined in the presentations.

Click here to read the winners bios

The 2005 BMI Student Composer Award winners are Preben Antonsen (age 14, studies privately with John Adams in Berkeley, California); Sebastian Chang (age 17, studies at Curtis Institute of Music); Glenn Crytzer (age 24, studies at Cleveland Institute of Music); Andrew Jeffrey Norman (age 25, studies privately with Donald Crockett in Los Angeles, California); Joseph Sheehan (age 24, studies at Indiana University); Jeff Stanek (age 21, studies at Indiana University); Conrad Tao (age 10, studies privately with Christopher Theofanidis in New York City); and Spencer Stuart Topel (age 25, studies at Cornell University).

BMI Lifetime Achievement winner George Crumb is congratulated by BMI's Del Bryant

A highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award, BMI's highest honor in the classical field, to composer George Crumb on the occasion of his 75th Birthday Year. Crumb, a 1956 BMI Student Composer Award winner, was cited as a "true American original," and honored for his "profound gift of music to the world." Among his many honors are the Pulitzer Prize in Music, a Grammy Award, a Fulbright Fellowship, a Cannes Classical Award, the Prince Pierre de Monaco Gold Medal, and the Brandeis University Creative Arts Award. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1975 and was named "Composer of the Year" in 2004 by Musical America. Crumb held the position of Annenberg Professor of the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught for over 30 years.

Pictured after the awards presnetation are (front row) winners Preben Antonsen, Sebastian Chang, and Conrad Tao, Awards Chairman Milton Babbitt, (back row) winners Spencer Topel, Jeff Stanek, Andrew Norman, Glenn Crytzer and Joseph Sheehan. Photo by Gary Gershoff

Joseph Sheehan was the named the winner of the William Schuman Prize, which is awarded to the score judged "most outstanding" in the competition. This special prize is given each year in memory of the late William Schuman, who served for 40 years as Chairman, then Chairman Emeritus, of the BMI Student Composer Awards. Additionally, two special Carlos Surinach Prizes, underwritten by the BMI Foundation's special endowed fund, were awarded to the youngest winners, Preben Antonsen and Conrad Tao.

The BMI Student Composer Awards recognize superior creative talent and winners receive scholarship grants to be applied toward their musical education. This year, more than 500 manuscripts were submitted to the competition from throughout the Western Hemisphere, and all works were judged under pseudonyms. Cash awards totaled $20,500.

This year's distinguished jury members included Robert Beaser, John Eaton, Steven Mackey, Cindy McTee, and Joseph Schwantner; the preliminary judges were Chester Biscardi, Shafer Mahoney and Bernadette Speach.

BMI has awarded 493 scholarship grants to young composers over the years, and many of today's most prominent and active classical composers received their first recognition from the BMI Student Composer Awards. Eleven former winners have gone on to win the coveted Pulitzer Prize in Music. The BMI Student Composer Awards competition is co-sponsored by BMI and the BMI Foundation, Inc.]]> 2005-06-06T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/234336 Artists, Adams, John, Arnold, Eddy, Basement Jaxx, Ben-Ari, Miri, Black Eyed Peas, Blanchard, Terence, Blind Boys of Alabama, The, Cachao, Chapman, Steven Curtis, Charles, Ray, D'Rivera, Paquito, Dixie Chicks, Douglas, Jerry, Frisell, Bill, Garza, David Lee, Guzman, Joel, Hancock, Herbie, Intocable, James, Etta, Jones, Norah, Lennon, John, Lil Jon, Lilly, Harold, Los Lonely Boys, Lynn, Loretta, McBride, Christian, McGraw, Tim, Nichols, Tim, Ozomatli, Sauceda, Sunny, Scruggs, Earl, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Spears, Britney, Usher1, West, Kanye, White, Jack, Wilco, Wilson, Brian, Awards, Industry Awards, Grammy Awards, Musical Styles, Blues, Classical, Country, Dance, Jazz, Latin, Pop, R&B, Rock, Type, Important Ray Charles, whose posthumously-released album of duets Genius Loves Company earned him five trophies at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards, leads the list of BMI winners, announced last night (2/13) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Charles' Album of the Year win marked the first time the top album prize has gone to a deceased artist since John Lennon received it in 1982.

Kanye West	Ray Charles

Charles, whose Grammy haul now totals 17, also took home the coveted Record of the Year title as well as Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Here We Go Again," featuring pianist/singer Norah Jones. She won three awards herself, two for her duet with Charles and one for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the song "Sunrise" from her sophomore release Feels Like Home.

Norah Jones	John Adams	Loretta Lynn

Genius engineer Al Schmitt won four Grammys, including one for Best Engineered Album (non-classical); the album's producer, Don Mizell, also took home a statuette.

Maroon5	Tim McGraw

Ten-time nominee Kanye West took home three awards, including Best Rap Song for his hit "Jesus Walks" (co-written with Miri Ben-Ari) from his multiplatinum release The College Dropout, which earned the Best Rap Album title. His Best R&B Song win, also a songwriter award, was shared with BMI co-writer Harold Lilly for the smash "You Don't Know My Name."

Blind Boys of Alabama	Brian Wilson

Pop-rockers Maroon5 took home the prestigious Best New Artist Grammy, a surprise to even the band's own members. When lead singer, Adam Levine, accepted the award, he commented: "Kanye West, I want to thank you so much for being unbelievable."

Miri Ben-Ari	Al Schmitt	Harold Lilly

BMI artists once again dominated the Latin category, winning five of the six awards, including Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album (Street Signs) by multicultural, hip-hop outfit Ozomatli and Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album by Tejano-norte�o fusion band Intocable. Cuban bassist Israel "Cachao" L�pez's �Ahora S�! was named Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra won for Best Salsa/Merengue Album. The Best Tejano Album win went to BMI composers David Lee Garza, Joel Guzman and Sunny Sauceda.

Ozomatli

BMI jazz artists also had a strong showing, winning Grammys in four out of six fields, with the Best Jazz Instrumental Album statuette going to McCoy Tyner, Gary Bartz, Terence Blanchard and Christian McBride for Illuminations. Herbie Hancock picked up his ninth career Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, Charlie Haden's release Land of the Sun was named Best Latin Jazz Album and Bill Frisell's Unspeakable earned the Best Contemporary Jazz Album title.

Winning two Grammys each were classical composer John Adams and BMI Icon Loretta Lynn. This is legendary country singer's second Grammy; she won in 1971 for her collaboration with Conway Twitty. Her album, Van Lear Rose, earned her the Best Country Album trophy, which she accepted with the album's producer Jack White of the White Stripes. The pair also won Best Country Collaboration With Vocals for the track "Portland Oregon."

Newcomers Los Lonely Boys opened the Grammy show with their #1 breakthrough smash "Heaven," which earned the Tex-Mex brothers the trophy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. Hip-hop party band the Black Eyed Peas picked up a Grammy for "Let's Get It Started," named Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group, while crunk rapper Lil Jon received a Grammy nod for his collaboration on the Usher hit "Yeah!".

Other BMI winners included Basement Jaxx [PRS] (Best Electronic/Dance Album), Tim McGraw (Best Male Country Vocal Performance), The Blind Boys Of Alabama (Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album), Brave Combo (Best Polka Album), and BMI Icon Brian Wilson, who also earned his very first Grammy. The Beach Boys leader was also honored on February 11 as the Person of the Year at the annual MusiCares dinner, which cited him as "one of the most important songwriters and recording artists of our time."

BMI's 2005 Grammy Award Winners:

Ray Charles
Record Of The Year
"Here We Go Again"
Album Of The Year
Genius Loves Company
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
"Here We Go Again"
Best Pop Vocal Album
Genius Loves Company
Best Gospel Performance
"Heaven Help Us All"

Al Schmitt
Record Of The Year
"Here We Go Again"
Album Of The Year
Genius Loves Company
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
Genius Loves Company
Best Surround Sound Album
Genius Loves Company

Norah Jones
Record Of The Year
"Here We Go Again"
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
"Sunrise"
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
"Here We Go Again"

Kanye West
Best R&B Song
"You Don't Know My Name"
Best Rap Song
"Jesus Walks"
Best Rap Album
College Dropout

John Adams
Best Classical Album
Adams: On The Transmigration Of Souls
Best Classical Contemporary Composition
Adams: On The Transmigration Of Souls

Loretta Lynn
Best Country Album
Van Lear Rose
Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
Portland Oregon"

Maroon5
Best New Artist

Don Mizell
Album Of The Year
Genius Loves Company

Los Lonely Boys
Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal
"Heaven"

Britney Spears
Best Dance Recording
"Toxic"

Basement Jaxx (PRS)
Best Electronic/Dance Album
Kish Kash

Mot�rhead (PRS)
Best Metal Performance
"Whiplash"

Brian Wilson
Best Rock Instrumental Performance
"Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"

Wilco
Best Alternative Music Album
A Ghost Is Born

Harold Lilly
Best R&B Song
"You Don't Know My Name"

The Black Eyed Peas
Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group
"Let's Get It Started"

Lil Jon
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
"Yeah!"

Miri Ben Ari
Best Rap Song
"Jesus Walks"

Tim McGraw
Best Male Country Vocal Performance
"Live Like You Were Dying"

Dixie Chicks
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal
"Top Of The World"

Jack White
Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
"Portland Oregon"

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Best Country Instrumental Performance
"Earl's Breakdown"

Earl Scruggs
Best Country Instrumental Performance
"Earl's Breakdown"

Randy Scruggs
Best Country Instrumental Performance
"Earl's Breakdown"

Jerry Douglas
Best Country Instrumental Performance
"Earl's Breakdown"

Tim Nichols
Best Country Song
"Live Like You Were Dying"

Will Ackerman
Best New Age Album
Returning

Bill Frisell
Best Contemporary Jazz Album
Unspeakable

Herbie Hancock
Best Jazz Instrumental Solo
"Speak Like A Child"

McCoy Tyner
Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group
Illuminations

Gary Bartz
Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group
Illuminations

Terence Blanchard
Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group
Illuminations

Christian McBride
Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group
Illuminations

Charlie Haden
Best Latin Jazz Album
Land Of The Sun

Steven Curtis Chapman
Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
All Things New

The Blind Boys Of Alabama
Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album
There Will Be A Light

Ozomatli
Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album
Street Signs

Israel L�pez "Cachao"
Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album
�Ahora S�!

Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Best Salsa/Merengue Album
Across 110th Street

Intocable
Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album
Intimamente

David Lee Garza
Best Tejano Album
Polkas, Gritos y Acorde�nes

Joel Guzman
Best Tejano Album
Polkas, Gritos y Acorde�nes

Sunny Sauceda
Best Tejano Album
Polkas, Gritos y Acorde�nes

Etta James
Best Traditional Blues Album
Blues To The Bone

Keb' Mo'
Best Contemporary Blues Album
Keep It Simple

Bill Miller
Best Native American Music Album
Cedar Dream Songs

Toots & The Maytals
Best Reggae Album
True Love

Brave Combo
Best Polka Album
Let's Kiss: 25th Anniversary Album

Paquito D'Rivera
Best Instrumental Composition
"Merengue"

Slide Hampton (SACEM)
Best Instrumental Arrangement
"Past Present & Future"

Ray Cooper (PRS)
Best Long Form Music Video
Concert For George

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Best Classical Crossover Album
LAGQ's Guitar Heroes

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners:
Eddy Arnold
Art Blakey
The Carter Family
Jerry Lee Lewis
Pinetop Perkins
The Staple Singers

Adams was cited by the selection committee for "his fusing of a wide range of styles into a voice entirely new and distinctive, and for his connection to and reflection of the world around us." As winner of the Nemmers Prize, he will serve a residency at Northwestern University and have one of his works performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in its 2005-2006 season.

"I am tremendously honored to be selected as the first composer to receive the Nemmers Prize in Musical Composition," said Adams. "It comes as both a surprise and a delight to know that my music is so highly regarded. I look forward to my residency at the Northwestern School of Music. Spending significant time with students is something I have missed very much in recent years."

Adams has been heralded worldwide for a unique style that harnesses the rhythmic energy of minimalism to the harmonies and orchestral colors of late Romanticism. He brought contemporary history to the opera house with his post-modern music theater works "Nixon in China" (1987) and "The Death of Klinghoffer" (1991), and has addressed urgent social issues in "I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky," "El Dorado" and "The Wound-Dresser."

Adams was awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Music for "On the Transmigration of Souls," a composition commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to commemorate the victims of the World Trade Center attacks. His works have been performed worldwide by great orchestras and opera companies, and are widely used by choreographers. He is the recipient of the 1995 Grawemeyer Award for his "Violin Concerto," and has had a long-term recording relationship with the Nonesuch label.

The three-member Nemmers Prize committee that selected Adams was comprised of individuals of widely recognized stature in the international music community.

The Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Musical Composition is made possible through a generous gift from the late Erwin E. Nemmers and Frederic E. Nemmers, who in 1994 enabled the creation of the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics and the Frederic Esser Nemmers Prize in Mathematics, leading awards in those fields.

Robert Beaser

Bernard Rands

An annual election is held to fill vacancies in the Academy's membership of 250 American artists, architects, writers and composers. Nominations are first voted on by discipline (art, literature, music). The names of those candidates receiving the highest number of votes are then submitted to the entire membership.

Other BMI classical composers who are Academy members include John Adams, Milton Babbitt, Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom, Elliott Carter, Chou Wen-chung, George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky, Norman Dello Joio, Lukas Foss, John Harbison, Karel Husa, Andrew W. Imbrie, Leon Kirchner, Donald Martino, Steve Reich, Christopher Rouse, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Francis Thorne, Joan Tower, Robert Ward, Charles Wuorinen, Yehudi Wyner and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.]]> 2004-02-25T17:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/233830 Artists, Adams, John, Avant, Davis, Don, Linkin Park, Matrix, The, Rage Against the Machine, Musical Styles, Film-TV, Rock, Musicworld, Hitmaker The sci-fi trilogy The Matrix not only revealed a hidden world programmed by evil computers, it also cast a spotlight on Emmy-winning composer and orchestrator (“The Beauty and the Beast,” “Seaquest DSV”) Don Davis.

"I knew these guys had quite a bit up their sleeves," says the Anaheim-born, UCLA grad, who majored in music theory and composition. "But, I had no idea it would turn into working on this kind of blockbuster."

Davis, currently hard at work in his Calabasas home studio on the final film, The Matrix Revolutions, which opens in November, has seen his music scoring for the series turn into a cottage industry. In addition to the three films, the 46-year-old composer provided the soundtrack for The Animatrix, nine animé shorts based on the movie and released on DVD by Warner Home Video, and the “Enter the Matrix” video game.

The Matrix showcases Davis’ ability to combine traditional movie orchestration with a pulsing, tribal electronic score (featuring rockers by Linkin Park, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Rage Against the Machine, P.O.D. and Deftones), underlining the movie’s blend of futurism and primitivism. He collaborated with Ben Watkins of the rock band Juno Reactor on The Matrix Reloaded’s two set pieces: the freeway chase and the "Burly Brawl" sequence where Neo battles multiple Agent Smiths.

"Our approach was for there to be no seams between the different musical styles," says Davis, whose scores for the series evoke avant-garde, post-modernist, new music composers like John Adams, minimalists Steve Reich and Philip Glass and even art-metal rockers Nine Inch Nails and Tool.

Indeed, the music for the climactic battle scene in The Matrix Revolutions will include a choir singing psalms from ancient Hindu texts in the original Sanskrit. "It will shed another light on the philosophies the Wachowskis want to convey," he explains.

Despite his success on The Matrix, Davis remains committed to continuing to compose outside film and TV. He is currently completing an opera, Rio de Sangre, to be performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 2005.

"Scoring a film, I have to parlay my time in terms of minutes written per day," he says. "When I’m writing concert music, it’s more like days per minute. It’s a real luxury to be able to jump back and forth between the two."

But Adams had decidedly mixed emotions about receiving the Pulitzer Prize. He stated that any honor regarding On the Transmigration of Souls should be bestowed on the New York Philharmonic and to the families of the victims of Sept. 11. He also felt the Pulitzer Prize -- while holding great weight in American journalism, arts and letters -- has not often reflected the highest achievements in American music. The prize, he noted, has unjustly eluded such vaunted composers as Thelonious Monk, Philip Glass and John Cage.

Indeed, some critics believe Adams should have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize long ago. The 56-year-old is respected so highly in the classical music world that he recently became the first living composer to have a festival devoted entirely to his work at New York’s prestigious Lincoln Center. Not bad for an artist that didn’t produce his first important pieces until he was past the age of 30.

Adams was born in Worcester, Massachusetts and grew up rural East Concord, New Hampshire. His youth was filled with music as he studied the clarinet, played in the school marching band, conducted a community orchestra and wrote his first compositions.

At Harvard University he began to focus more on composition. After hearing the experimental sounds of John Cage, Adams moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971 in search of new artistic vistas. He explored unconventional sound sources and even built his own synthesizer. After composing several minimalist pieces in the late 1970s, Adams became new-music advisor to the San Francisco Symphony from 1982 to 1985.

A major turning point in his career occurred in 1983 when he met theater director Peter Sellars. The two ended up collaborating on an ambitious opera based on Richard Nixon’s historic 1972 meeting with Mao Tse-Tung. Titled Nixon in China, the opera premiered in 1987 and is now considered a classic.

Another opera, the controversial The Death of Klinghoffer, followed in 1990. The piece was about the actual killing of Leon Klinghoffer by Palestinian terrorists aboard a Mediterranean cruise ship.

Between 1997 and 2000, Adams produced three more works that that had critics singing his praises. The first was a spry piano concerto, Century Rolls. This was followed by a symphonic work, Na•ve and Sentimental Music. El Nino, an ebullient opera-oratorio, debuted at the end of 2000.

Through all the talk of him being one of America’s greatest living composers, Adams appears remarkably unaffected by the hoopla. He’s attended highly anticipated premieres of his own work dressed in jeans and a leather jacket. At his home in Berkeley, California, he often composes on a computer sketching notes in pencil and then trying them out on electronic instruments.

This past spring, the San Francisco Symphony presented the world premiere of Adam’s latest work, My Father Knew Charles Ives. It’s the first project in a long-term commissioning program between the composer and the San Francisco Symphony.]]> 2003-08-26T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233690 Artists, Adams, John, Musical Styles, Classical, Type, Important John Adams has been awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his orchestral work, On the Transmigration of Souls, a memorial to September 11. Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, the piece was intended, as Adams wrote in the program note, to create a "memory space" where "you can be alone with your thoughts and emotions." Scored for orchestra, SATB chorus, children�s chorus and multi-channel sound design, this 24-minute work features a variety of taped sounds and textures, including laughter, screeching car brakes, text from missing-persons posters and cell-phone messages, and a recitation of names of World Trade Center victims.

Given "for distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance in the United States during the year," the Music Pulitzer -- a $7,500 cash award and a certificate-- will be presented at a luncheon honoring winners in all 21 categories in late May at Columbia University.

One of America's most admired and frequently performed composers, Massachusetts native John Adams began his career teaching and conducting at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 1978 he starting working with the San Francisco Symphony, and many of Adams�s most important works, including Harmonium, Harmonielehre, Grand Pianola Music and El Ni�o, have been commissioned and premiered by that orchestra.

In 1985 Adams began a collaboration with the poet Alice Goodman and stage director Peter Sellars that resulted in two operas, Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, worldwide performances of which made them among the most performed operas in recent history. A third stage work followed in 1995: I Was Looking At The Ceiling And Then I Saw The Sky, a 'song play' with libretto by the poet June Jordan. The Nativity oratorio El Ni�o, also in collaboration with Peter Sellars, premiered in 2000.

Among Adams's recent works are Century Rolls (a piano concerto for Emanuel Ax), Na�ve & Sentimental Music, a 45-minute symphony for large orchestra, and Guide To Strange Places, for orchestra, introduced in Amsterdam and London with the composer conducting. The San Francisco Symphony has engaged Adams for a 10-year commissioning project; the first work, "My Father Knew Charles Ives," was written for conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, who will lead the world premiere on April 30 at Davies Symphony Hall. San Francisco Opera has also announced a commission for Adams, scheduled for production in 2005, based on the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb.

The composer has earned numerous honors, among them the 1994 Royal Philharmonic Society Award for his Chamber Symphony and the 1995 Grawemeyer Award for his Violin Concerto. Large-scale festivals of Adams�s music have taken place at London Barbican Center and Lincoln Center in New York, with a Rotterdam festival scheduled for March 2004. Adams is also one of the most recorded of all living composers; since 1995 virtually all of his music has been recorded by Nonesuch, and much of it is available on the ten-CD set "The John Adams Earbox." He continues to conduct regularly, appearing with the world's greatest orchestras, and with programs combining his own works with composers as diverse as Debussy, Stravinsky, Ravel, ves, Glass and Ellington. In recent seasons he has conducted the Chicago Symphony and San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland, Philadelphia and Detroit Orchestras, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Montreal Symphony. European engagements have included performances with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, London Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Later this year, Adams will succeed Pierre Boulez as Composer in Residence at Carnegie Hall. For more information on John Adams, visit earbox.com.]]> 2003-04-10T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/200050 Artists, 3 Doors Down, Aaliyah, Adams, John, Aguilera, Christina, Arnold, Brad, Bacilos, Baltimore, Charli, Bedingfield, Daniel, Big Tymers, Blind Boys of Alabama, The, Bowie, David, Branch, Michelle, Brandy, Busta Rhymes, Cachao, Carlton, Vanessa, Christy, Lauren, Christy, Lauren, Creed, Crow, Sheryl, Daniels, Charlie, Dirty Vegas, Dixie Chicks, Elfman, Danny, Eminem, Enya, Evans, Faith, Flaming Lips, The, Floetry, Foo Fighters, Gabriel, Peter, Garza, David Lee, Golijov, Osvaldo, Green, Al, Green, Pat, Hammond, Fred, Hancock, Herbie, Hargrove, Roy, Harris, Jesse, Henley, Don, Hill, Faith, Intocable, James, Etta, Jars of Clay, John, Elton, Jones, Norah, Juanes, Kelly, R., Kenny G, King, B.B., Kinky, Knapp, Jennifer, Korn, Krauss, Alison, Lauderdale, Jim, Lonestar, Maines, Lloyd, Mardin, Arif, McBride, Martina, Metheny, Pat, Miller, Lee Thomas, Moby, Nappy Roots, Nelson, Willie, Neptunes, The, Newman, Thomas, Nickel Creek, Nickelback, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The, Parton, Dolly, Queens of the Stone Age, Roberts, Matt, Santos, John, Scruggs, Earl, Shorter, Wayne, Slutsky, Allan, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Spears, Britney, Spock, Scott, Stanley, Ralph, Sting, Stone, Angie, Tedeschi, Susan, Temptations, The, Tesh, John, Trick Pony, Williams, Lucinda, Winans, Bebe, Musical Styles, Blues, Country, Jazz, Pop Sheryl Crow, Eminem and Norah Jones lead the list of nominees for this year's Grammy Awards with five nods each. Nominees were announced today (1/7) at a press conference at New York's Madison Square Garden. The 45th Grammy Awards will be held on February 23 at the Garden, and will be broadcast live on CBS from 8-11:30 (ET/PT).

Sheryl Crow

Eminem

Norah Jones

Other BMI writers who received multiple nominations included four each for country darlings the Dixie Chicks, producer Arif Mardin and Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger (including Record of the Year for the Nickelback smash "How You Remind Me"). Newcomer Vanessa Carlton picked up three. Fellow BMI pop divas Pink, Britney Spears and Michelle Branch garnered two nominations each, as did blues legend B.B. King, film composer Thomas Newman and gospel giant Fred Hammond.

BMI's 2003 Grammy nominees:

FIVE NOMINATIONS

Sheryl Crow
Eminem
Norah Jones

FOUR NOMINATIONS

Dixie Chicks
Chad Kroeger (SOCAN)

THREE NOMINATIONS

Vanessa Carlton
Floetry (Marsha Ambrosius, Natalie Stewart)
Arif Mardin
Pat Metheny

TWO NOMINATIONS

Michelle Branch
Michael Brecker
The Chieftains
Madukwu Chinwah
Natalie Cole
Dirty Vegas (PRS)
Foo Fighters
Carlos Franzetti
Kenny G
Pat Green
Herbie Hancock
Nellee Hooper (PRS)
B.B. King
Diana Krall (SOCAN)
Rashid Lonnie Lynn
Nappy Roots
Willie Nelson
Thomas Newman
Nickel Creek
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Dolly Parton
Pink
Britney Spears
Ralph Stanley
3 Doors Down (Brad Arnold, Todd Harrell, Chris Henderson, Matt Roberts)
Doc Watson
John Williams

SINGLE NOMINEES

Aaliyah
Will Ackerman
John Adams
Christina Aguilera
Darol Anger
Audio Adrenaline
Bacilos
David Balakrishnan
Charli Baltimore
Banda El Recodo De Cruz Lizárraga
Jeff Bass
Daniel Bedingfield (PRS)
Big Tymers
Eddie Blazonczyk
The Blind Boys of Alabama
Kevin Bond
Ryan Bowser
David Bowie (PRS)
Brandy
Norman Brown
Solomon Burke
Burning Sky
R.L. Burnside
Gary Burton
Gary Calamar
Michel Camilo
Cam’Ron
The Canton Spirituals
Capleton (PRS)
Caribbean Jazz Project
Cee-Lo
Lauren Christy
The Clinch Mountain Boys
Andy Colver (PRS)
Commissioned
Common
Creed
Bill Cunliffe
The Charlie Daniels Band
Diamond Rio
Michael Doucet
Dave Douglas
Don Edwards
Danny Elfman
Enya (PRS)
Faith Evans
Tommy Flanagan
The Flaming Lips
Béla Fleck
Michael J. Fox
Allison Brewster Franzetti
The Funk Brothers
Peter Gabriel (PRS)
David Lee Garza y Los Musicales
Osvaldo Golijov
Gov’t Mule
Al Green
Grits
Dave Grusin
Deitrick Haddon
Fred Hammond
Roy Hargrove
Jesse Harris
Don Henley
Faith Hill
Dave Holland Big Band
David Holt
Intocable
Etta James
Jars of Clay
JaRule
Jay-Z
Maxi Jazz (PRS)
Little Joe & La Familia
Elton John (PRS)
The Jordanaires
Juanes
John P. Kee
Salif Keita (PRS)
R. Kelly
Kinky
Kitaro
Jennifer Knapp
Knoc-Turn’Al
Korn
Dave Koz
Jeff Koz
Alison Krauss
Femi Kuti (SACEM)
kd lang
Jim Lauderdale
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Don Letts (PRS)
Lonestar
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
The Light Crust Doughboys
Limi-T 21
Israel “Cachao” López
Taj Mahal
Lloyd Maines
Maraca
Martina McBride
Delbert McClinton
Freddie McGregor (PRS)
Lee Thomas Miller
Mingus Big Band
Moby
Charlie Musselwhite
Meshell Ndegeocello
The Neptunes
Newsong
Nickelback (SOCAN)
*NSYNC
The Oak Ridge Boys
Makoto Ozone (JASRAC)
Lee “Scratch” Perry
Pharrell
Queens of the Stone Age
Busta Rhymes
Riders In the Sky
Peter Rowan
Nancy Rumbel
Nicky Ryan (PRS)
Roma Ryan (PRS)
Mingo Saldivar y Sus Tremendos Cuatro Espadas
Santana
John Santos and the Machete Ensemble
Al Schmitt
The John Scofield Band
Earl Scruggs
Wayne Shorter
Jon Sidel
Siggno
Allan Slutsky
Arthur Smith (PRS)
The Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Scott Spock
Ralph Stanley II
Sting (PRS)
Angie Stone
Omar Sosa
Luciana Souza
Jimmy Sturr
Take Six
Susan Tedeschi
John Tesh
The Temptations
Eric Tingstad
Tobymac
Trick Pony
Kathy Troccoli
Los Tucanes De Tijuana
McCoy Tyner
Jai Uttal
Bebo Valdés
Carlos “Patato” Valdés
The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
Scott Wenzel
Kenny Werner
Lucinda Williams
Robin Williams
Dean Wilson (PRS)
BeBe Winans
The Roland White Band
Pete Woodruff
Yellowjackets
Joe Zawinul