the new school's mANNES COLLEGE ANNOUNCES prize for entrepreneurship in MusicFEATURING MENTORSHIP PROGRAM WITH MARIN ALSOP AND LEADING INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS |
New York (March 3, 2015) – The New School’s Mannes College announces a multi-year prize awarded to students for innovative projects in music entrepreneurship. Funded by a generous gift from Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Music Director Marin Alsop and the Alsop Family Foundation, the Alsop Entrepreneurship Award supports the implementation and creation of interdisciplinary projects to promote audience outreach in 21st century classical music. “Mannes and The New School view creative entrepreneurship as an essential part of what it means to be a successful artist in the 21st century,” says Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the Performing Arts College at The New School and Dean of Mannes College. “It is fitting that one of the most creative and entrepreneurial musical leaders of our time, Marin Alsop, would create a prize at Mannes to help stimulate and animate this work in ways that go well beyond the simple dollar value of her generous support. We are grateful to Marin for helping to shine a light on how artists can think about their life’s work in relation to a larger world of opportunity, while developing core skills that will serve them for a long time to come.” Now in its inaugural cycle, the Alsop Entrepreneurship Award consists of $25,000 available on a competitive basis over the course of five years, through 2019. The funding will support undergraduate and graduate projects developed by currently enrolled Mannes College students. Support is primarily intended as seed funding and ranges from $500 to $2000 grants, depending on the complexity and number of students involved. It is expected that three to five projects will receive funding in each cycle. “This award—in memory of my parents, K. Lamar (who studied violin performance at Mannes) and Ruth Alsop—is in keeping with their entrepreneurial spirits,” says Marin Alsop. “They were risk takers in music and in life and lived to the fullest with immense generosity, humility and creativity. For them, being musicians was the ultimate privilege.” In addition to the grants, winning students will also participate in an intensive, year-long mentorship program with members from the selection committee, consisting of highly-regarded industry leaders. This year’s committee memebers include Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the School of Performing Arts at The New School and Dean of Mannes College; Margaret Lioi, CEO of Chamber Music America; Leslie Stifelman, Peabody Award Winning conductor, pianist, producer and consultant; and Nicholas Firth, businessman and former Chairman and CEO of BMG Music Publishing. To be considered, projects must have a component that is innovative, outwardly focused, and demonstrates clear value to a community. Potential models for projects include, but are not limited to: (1) interdisciplinary partnerships; (2) developing new business ventures; (3) exploring unique concert formats and expanding audience reach; (4) educational projects; (5) the use of technology to enhance the study and appreciation of music. In the first cycle for the 2014-2015 academic year, four projects were awarded $7000 in funding, with Mannes College awarding an additional $2000 to support projects of exceptional merit. Summaries of projects funded in the 2014-2015 year are included below: Allie Jessing Operesque is a performance project that combines Opera and Burlesque to rekindle the love for high art and culture in a new generation, reinvigorate the relevance and sex appeal of classical music, and provide a new platform for education and awareness of safer sex practices, self love, and mutual respect in the digital age and beyond. The first stage is a free series of sophisticated, sensual, classical performances by Allie Mazon, a Master’s candidate in Voice at Mannes College, incorporating burlesque strip-tease. Operesque will premiere in Manhattan at Drom NYC on May 27 at 7:15 pm. By establishing her persona and art form through videos, photos, performances, and social media, Allie is expanding the project through collaboration with multi-disciplinary artists to create innovative, multi-media Operatic Burlesque experiences that will titillate, enrich, and inform. These performances will facilitate influence in the realm of sex education by championing awareness and creating opportunities for collaboration with artists, technologists, and health workers to provide innovative solutions for spreading sexual health knowledge by taking advantage of the digital dating age and the moving power of the arts. Caitlin Mead Caitlin Mead, a first year Master's student, received an Alsop Entrepreneurship Award to produce a combination recital and gallery show revolving around Luciano Berio's Folk Songs (1964). The event will be produced this April in the Event Gallery in the New School’s new University Center at 65 5th Avenue in New York. Berio’s Folk Songs are a collection of 11 pieces written for soprano and septet based on folk music from 8 different cultures across the world such as Appalachia, Auvergne (France), Sicily (Italy), Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The piece was written post WWII, in world that desperately needed unification to recover from the atrocities of war and this piece can be seen as a metaphor for peaceful coexistence of differing cultural and political worlds. Mead is collaborating with New School art history student Lydia Terillo. Their goal is for the gallery exhibit and the music to interact and highlight both the unique cultural traditions and history of each country while showing the unifying values that appear in each of the songs (community, nature, love, etc). They hope to have works from each culture within the gallery for a visual representation. Jeanne Dorche This Close is a ground-breaking ensemble comprised of voice (Alexandra Fees), oboe (Phillip Rashkin), cello (Jeanne Dorche) and piano (Vladimir Rumyantsev). This Close breaks traditional performance protocols to create new relationships using all forms of live music, allowing for a tangible and intimate experience of the art This Close's pilot program will take place in Huntsville, AL, from April 19-27, 2015, and will include several performances each day in public places, schools, businesses and churches. This Close will use their unique programs to surround and engage the people present, questioning the traditional roles of "performer" and "listener". The repertoire will cover classical and contemporary music, as well as cabaret and folk songs. Sebastian Lambertz For more information, or to arrange interviews with Executive Dean Richard Kessler, student award winners, or Associate Professor Tanya Kalmanovitch, contact Kasia Broussalian, Communications Manager at The New School, at 212.229.5667 ext. 3990. |
| Mannes College at The New School develops classical musician/citizens by combining music conservatory traditions with the cutting-edge advantage of being part of The New School, the nation's foremost progressive university. Founded in 1916, the Mannes formula for quality education capitalizes on its world-class faculty, location in the heart of the global arts capital, small class size, and a living tradition of rigor and depth that develops strong technique and great artistry. The Mannes ethos forms the basis of a vibrant community of degree or diploma students in the College or Extension division, and young people studying in Mannes Prep. In this second decade of the 21st century, demands on artists are greater and more complex than ever. Mannes provides a wide range of exciting learning and knowledge building in partnership with its sister divisions of The New School, including one of the world's great design schools, Parsons The New School for Design; the liberal arts at Eugene Lang College; public policy, business, and civic engagement in The New Shool for Public Engagement; and cross disciplinary arts learning at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and The New School for Drama. |
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