October 28, 2003
Music School Offers $100,000 Composer Award
EVANSTON, Ill.
--- The Northwestern University School of Music today (Oct. 27)
announced the establishment of The Michael Ludwig
Nemmers Prize in Musical Composition, a biennial award honoring
classical music composers of outstanding achievement. The newly
created prize is among the world’s largest awards offered
to composers.
The Nemmers Prize, conferred through nomination, will include
a cash award of $100,000, a performance by the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, and a residency of four non-consecutive weeks at Northwestern
University School of Music where the recipient will interact with
faculty and students. The inaugural award cycle of the prize is
scheduled for 2005.
“We are pleased to offer one of the largest prizes available
for composers,” said Toni-Marie Montgomery, dean of the Northwestern
University School of Music. “These artists indelibly shape
our musical landscape and it is only fitting that they are honored
accordingly. We look forward to working with the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra and strengthening the bonds between our institutions.”
"I am thrilled that Northwestern has initiated this prize
in composition,” said Daniel Barenboim, Chicago Symphony
Orchestra music director. “It will certainly afford the opportunity
to highlight the important composers of our day. We are delighted
to be partners in this venture.”
A three-member selection committee, comprising individuals of
widely recognized stature in the music community, will review prize
nominations. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra will designate one
selection committee member. Northwestern University School of Music
will appoint the remaining two. The prize will be awarded without
regard to citizenship or institutional affiliation.
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 Prize
in Mathematics, both leading awards in their fields..
Northwestern
University President Henry S. Bienen said, “We
are pleased to expand the University’s Nemmers Prize initiative
to the arts with the establishment of this new prize. We are confident
that it will continue a distinguished prize tradition.”
Nominations
for the 2005 prize cycle will be accepted from now until March
1, 2004, with the announcement of the winner scheduled
for April 2004. Nominations preferably should come from recognized
experts in the music profession and describe the nominee’s
accomplishments and qualifications in no more than two pages. Inclusion
of the nominee’s resume along with the nominating letter
is encouraged but is not required.
Self-nominations will not be accepted. Former or present members
of the Northwestern University faculty or employees of the Chicago
Symphony are not eligible for the prize.
Nominations should be sent to: Secretary to the Selection Committee,
Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Musical Composition, Office of
the Dean, School of Music, Northwestern University, 711 Elgin Road,
Evanston, Ill. 60208. |