APA names Condoleezza Rice as Honorary Chair of Fellowship Awards
Befitting a season when the American Pianists Association has commissioned works for solo piano from five rising-star women composers, the APA has named former U.S. Secretary of State and amateur pianist Condoleezza Rice as the Honorary Chair of the 2013 ProLiance Energy Classical Fellowship Awards of the American Pianists Association. As a child prodigy, Rice could read music before she could read books; at age 15, she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466 with the Denver Symphony, her prize for winning a student competition. Although she ultimately chose politics over music as her career, playing the piano remains a key part of her life (with Brahms her favorite composer and Arthur Rubinstein her all-time favorite pianist). The American Pianists Association’s classical competition culminates in Discovery Week, April 15-20, in Indianapolis, when the winner of a prize valued at more than $100,000 will be selected.
“Music is one of the pillars that contributes to the unique culture of our American society,” said Condoleezza Rice. “Whether learning poise and confidence while studying piano as a child or performing as an adult, music continually brings beauty and fulfillment to my life.”
Joel Harrison, president/CEO and artistic director of the American Pianists Association, stated, “We are especially delighted and honored to welcome Dr. Condoleezza Rice to the American Pianists Association as Honorary Chair of the 2013 Classical Fellowship Awards. Given that we have worked with the U.S. Department of State during Dr. Rice’s tenure as Secretary of State to send our Fellows on international tours, and that she is a fine classical pianist herself, she is the proverbial ‘perfect fit’ for us, and I am deeply grateful for her involvement.”
The American Pianists Association’s commissioned works from composers Lisa Bielawa, Margaret Brouwer, Gabriela Lena Frank, Missy Mazzoli and Sarah Kirkland Snider will receive their world premieres in Indianapolis on April 15. The five Finalists for the Classical Fellowship Awards – Sean Chen, Sara Daneshpour, Claire Huangci, Andrew Staupe and Eric Zuber – will perform the APA-commissioned works during the New Music Recital, as part of Discovery Week.
Guest artists for the five-day long series of recitals and concerts include Gerard Schwarz, who will conduct the finalists with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (April 19, 20), soprano Jessica Rivera as soloist for the song recital (April 18), and the Linden String Quartet for the daily chamber music recitals (April 15-19). On April 20, one Finalist will be named the APA’s 2013 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellow, a musician with the potential to make significant contributions to American cultural life. New York City’s Trinity Church will present the American Pianists Association’s newly selected winner and the four laureates in its Concerts at One series on April 25, when the five pianists will give New York premieres of the five APA-commissioned solo works.
About Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice served as the 66th Secretary of State of the United States from January 2005-2009, the second woman and first African American woman to hold the post. She was President George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor from January 2001-2005, also the first woman to hold that position. At Stanford University, where she served as Provost from 1993-1999, she was responsible for a $1.5 billion annual budget and the academic program involving 1,400 faculty members and 14,000 students. Currently at Stanford, Rice is a professor of Political Economy in the Graduate School of Business, the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, and a professor of Political Science. She is also a founding partner of the international strategic consulting firm RiceHadleyGates, LLC, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she has been awarded ten honorary doctorates. Rice has authored and co-authored numerous books, including two bestsellers, No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington (2011) and Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family (2010); Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft (1995) with Philip Zelikow; The Gorbachev Era (1986) with Alexander Dallin; and Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984). Born in Birmingham, Alabama, she is an accomplished pianist who entered the University of Denver as a music major at age 15 and studied at the Aspen Music Festival before switching careers to political science. The New York Times has called Rice “the world’s most prominent amateur musician.”
About the American Pianists Association Fellowship
The American Pianists Association’s Fellowship provides a $50,000 cash award and two years of career assistance and performances, valued together at more than $100,000. Performance opportunities during the fellowship period involve solo recitals as well as appearances with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and symphony orchestras of Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Santa Fe and Tucson. Previous winners have been presented at the Kennedy Center, Phillips Collection, Dame Myra Hess Series, Chopin Foundation of America, in various recital series nationwide, and on tours overseas. Steinway is the official piano of the 2013 Fellowship, and the chosen Fellow will issue a solo recording on the Steinway label, for distribution by ArkivMusic.
Unlike any other major piano competition, the American Pianists Association focuses equally on classical and jazz pianists. Since 1992, the organization has offered Jazz Fellowships, with a similar cash award of $50,000 – the largest available in the jazz piano world. The 2011 Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz is Aaron Diehl, hailed by the New York Times as a “revelation.” Former Fellows include Dan Tepfer (2007) and Aaron Parks (2001). The next Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz will be named in April 2015.
American Pianists Association Mission
The mission of the American Pianists Association is to discover, promote and advance the careers of young American classical and jazz pianists of world-class talents. Since its founding in 1979, the organization has supported 43 Fellows. The 2009 Classical Fellows are Adam Golka, also a Gilmore Young Artist, who impressed the Washington Post with his “combination of brilliant technique and real emotional depth”; and Grace Fong, a “positively magical” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition. Among the previous Classical Fellows are Spencer Myer (2006), Christopher Taylor (2000), Frederic Chiu (1985) and Sara Davis Buechner (1981). The American Pianists Association was founded in 1979 as the Beethoven Foundation. In 1982, two of its founders, Victor Borge and Tony Habig, moved the national headquarters to Indianapolis.
Schedule of American Pianists Association “Discovery Week” Events
2013 ProLiance Energy Classical Fellowship Awards of the American Pianists Association
Condoleezza Rice, Honorary Chair
Note: All events take place in Indianapolis unless otherwise indicated.
April 15, 2013, noon
Discovery Week; Christ Church Cathedral
Solo recital and Dvorák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81
Eric Zuber, piano; Linden String Quartet
April 15, 2013, 7:30pm
Discovery Week; Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall
New Music Recital: Premieres of APA-commissioned works by Lisa Bielawa, Margaret Brouwer, Gabriela Lena Frank, Missy Mazzoli and Sarah Kirkland Snider
April 16, 2013, noon
Discovery Week; Christ Church Cathedral
Solo recital and Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44
Sara Daneshpour, piano; Linden String Quartet
April 17, 2013, noon
Discovery Week; Christ Church Cathedral
Solo recital and Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57
Claire Huangci, piano; Linden String Quartet
April 18, 2013, noon
Discovery Week; Christ Church Cathedral
Solo recital and Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
Andrew Staupe, piano; Linden String Quartet
April 18, 2013, 7:30pm
Discovery Week; Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center
Song Recital
Jessica Rivera, soprano with all five APA Finalists
April 19, 2013, noon
Discovery Week; Christ Church Cathedral
Solo recital and Dohnányi: Piano Quintet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 1
Sean Chen, piano; Linden String Quartet
April 19, 2013, 8pm
Discovery Week; Hilbert Circle Theatre
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra / Gerard Schwarz
Gala Finals
Sara Daneshpour – Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor
Claire Huangci – Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major
Eric Zuber – Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor
April 20, 2013, 8pm
Discovery Week; Hilbert Circle Theatre
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra / Gerard Schwarz
Sean Chen – Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major
Andrew Staupe – Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor
Gala Finals and naming of the winner: 2013 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellow of the American Pianists Association
April 25, 1pm, New York, NY
Trinity Church (Wall Street & Broadway)
Concerts at One
Performances by all competition pianists (including the winner, who will be named on April 20): Sean Chen, Sara Daneshpour, Claire Huangci, Andrew Staupe and Eric Zuber
New York premieres of APA-commissioned works by Lisa Bielawa, Margaret Brouwer, Gabriela Lena Frank, Missy Mazzoli and Sarah Kirkland Snider
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© 21C Media Group, March 2013