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PROGRAMS & INITIATIVES

THE SOREL MEDALLION IN RECORDING


With the inauguration of Sorel Classics Label, the Recording Grant submission requirements have been extended.


No longer will applications be limited to semi finalist of our Medallion competitions.


All recording grant request must submit a description of the project, budget, time frame, marketing expectations, distribution goals and approximate release date.


The project is limited to women artists and composers and may collaborate with whom ever they choose.


Decisions will be based on the variety of the release and the significance of the project.


Please direct any requests to info@sorelmusic.org 

PREVIOUS RECORDING GRANT RECIPIENTS

2012


Jessie Montgomery, composer and violinist, "Strum"

     a selection of String quartets


Jessie Montgomery is a New York native violinist, composer and music educator. She is a composer and performer of film, theater and concert music, performing regularly among New York's classical and new music scenes. An active chamber musician and collaborator, Jessie was a founding member of PUBLIQuartet, an ensemble made up of composers and arrangers, featuring their own music as well as that of other New York based composers. She was also a core member of the Providence String Quartet from 2004 - 2009, a pioneering ensemble in community based music education. Since 2012 she has been a member of the Catalyst String quartet which focuses on bridging American 20th and 21st Century music with traditional classical repertoire. Ensemble experiences have lead to collaborations with The Orion String Quartet, The Miro String Quartet, Ljova and the Kontraband, and The Knights. Jessie has also collaborated with several avant-garde greats such as clarinetist Don Byron, Butch Morris.


Since 1999, Jessie has been affiliated with The Sphinx Organization, which supports the accomplishments of young African-American and Latino string players. Since her involvement with Sphinx, Jessie has been a two time laureate in their annual competition, was Concertmaster of their 2009 national tour, and serves on the faculty of the Sphinx Performance Academy.


In 2011-2012, Jessie was the Van Lier Composer Fellow at the American Composers Orchestra, with performances of her works for small ensemble showcased throughout New York City in the SONiC Festival, and the Composers OutFront! Series. She was in Residence at the Deer Valley Music Festival under the direction of American composer Joan Tower in 2008, and was also the two-time recipient of the Composer's Apprentice Award given by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has served as resident composer for the Providence String Quartet, with performances throughout the Providence and Boston areas. Her music has been premiered by the Vinca Quartet, Providence String Quartet, JACK Quartet, Catalyst Quartet, PUBLIQuartet, and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble. She has been featured two times on the Music of Now Marathon at Symphony Space including a world premiere of her string quartet "Break Away" in 2013.


Jessie holds a Bachelor's degree from The Juilliard School in violin performance and a Master's Degree in Composition and Film Scoring from New York University. Primary violin teachers have been Sally Thomas and Ann Setzer; composition teachers and mentors include Hollywood film composer Ira Newborn, Joan Tower and Derek Bermel.

 

Gao Hong, composer and pipa master,

     "Lutes Around the World"

     a collection of Pipa concerto


Gao Hong, a Chinese musical prodigy and master of the pear-shaped lute, the pipa, began her career as a professional musician at age 12. She graduated with honors from China's premier music school, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she studied with the great pipa master Lin Shicheng. In both China and the U.S. Gao has received numerous top awards and honors, including First Prize in the Hebei Professional Young Music Performers Competition and an International Art Cup in Beijing. In 2005 Gao Hong became the first traditional musician to be awarded the prestigious Bush Artist Fellowship, and in 2012 she became the only musician in any genre to win four McKnight Artist Fellowships for Performing Musicians. The Minnesota State Arts Board has awarded her with an Artist Assistance Fellowship, an Artist Initiative Grant, and a Cultural Community Partnership grant.


Gao has performed throughout Europe, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, China, and the U.S. in solo concerts and with symphony orchestras, jazz musicians, and musicians from other cultures. She has performed at many major festivals worldwide. Her performances have included those at the Lincoln Center Festival; Carnegie Hall; the San Francisco Jazz Festival; the Smithsonian Institution; the Next Wave Festival; Festival d'Automne a Paris in Paris and Caen, France; the International Festival of Perth, Australia; and the Festival de Teatro d'Europa in Milan, Italy. Her performances of pipa concerti with symphony orchestras include several world, U.S., and regional premieres and performances with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, Heidelberg (Germany) Philharmonic, the Women's Philharmonic in San Francisco, the Portland (Maine) Symphony, and the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra among others. In addition, she performed with the Lincoln Center production of "The Peony Pavilion."


As a composer, she has received commissions from the American Composers Forum, Walker Art Center, the Jerome Foundation, Zeitgeist, Ragamala Music and Dance Theater, Theater Mu, IFTPA, Danish guitarist Lars Hannibal, and Twin Cities Public Television for the six-part series "Made in China." Meet the Composer Inc. in New York City has awarded her two Creative Connections grants and two MetLife Creative Connections grants.


China's foremost music publication, "People's Music," wrote of Gao Hong that "like the famous Luoyang peony, she has gradually emerged as the best of all beautiful flowers...her performance has extremely strong artistic appeal and belongs under the category of 'fine wine'...the more you listen, the more beautiful it gets..."

 

2013


Emily Doolittle, composer, "Selected Chamber Works"


Composer Emily Doolittle was born in Nova Scotia in 1972 and educated at Dalhousie University, the Koninklijk Conservatorium in the Hague, Indiana University and Princeton. Her principal teachers include Louis Andriessen, Dennis Farrell, Steve Mackey, Barbara White, Paul Lansky, and Don Freund. She is currently an Associate Professor of Composition at Cornish College of the Arts, where she has been teaching since 2008.


Doolittle enjoys writing for both traditional and non-traditional instrumentation, and has composed for such ensembles as Orchestre Métropolitain, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, the Albany Symphony, the Motion Ensemble and Talespin, and soloists including sopranos Janice Jackson, Patricia Green and Helen Pridmore, pianist Rachel Iwaasa, viola d'amorist Thomas Georgi, and alphornist Mike Cumberland. Her work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, ASCAP, the Artist Trust, the Eric Stokes Foundation, the Culture and Animals Foundation, the Nova Scotia Arts Council, the Nova Scotia Talent Trust, the Conseil des arts de Montréal and the Fulbright Foundation.


On of Doolittle's ongoing interests is the relationship between bird and other animal songs and human music, something she has explored both in music and in collaborative research projects with scientists. In 2011, she was artist-in-residence at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany. Other interests include the traditional music of various cultures, community music-making, and music as a vehicle for social change. Further information on Doolittle's music can be found on her website,www.emilydoolittle.com.


Grace Elizabeth Smith, pianist, "Melange"

     In honor of Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian woman composer

     and the first woman conductor of Brazil


2014


Songfest, Rosemary Hyler Ritter, Director/Founder, "Commissions"

     A collection of works commissioned for the Songfest Festivals

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