Stephen Schwartz Honored With ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award

The ASCAP Foundation honored composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz for his lifetime contributions to the Musical Theater with The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award. On hand to make the presentation was Richard Rodgers' grandson and fellow musical theater composer Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza). The accolade was presented today during the Foundation's 16th Annual Awards Ceremony, held at the Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, in New York City. The invitation-only event, hosted by ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams, also honored a wide variety of Scholarship and Award recipients, all of whom benefit from programs of The ASCAP Foundation.

Over the course of a four-decade career, New York native Stephen Schwartz has created a major body of musical theater works, including Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, The Baker's Wife and the current, long-running hit, Wicked. Schwartz, the recipient of multiple Oscar and Grammy Awards and a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, has also contributed lyrics to the scores of the films The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Pocahontas, and both music and lyrics to Prince of Egypt and Enchanted. He is also notable as the Artistic Director of the acclaimed ASCAP Foundation/Disney Musical Theater Workshop since 1994. Other participants in this evening's tribute to Schwartz were cabaret and Broadway stars Judy Kuhn and Scott Coulter, both of whom performed Schwartz songs.

Four newly named ASCAP Foundation scholarship and/or award programs have been established in 2011 and the beneficiaries of each new program were honored at the December 7 event. The new programs include: The ASCAP Foundation "Reach Out and Touch" Award in honor of Nick Ashford to provide promising songwriters with financial assistance for professional recordings of their original songs; The ASCAP Foundation Freddy Bienstock Scholarship & Internship which provides the opportunity for a music business student interested in music publishing to intern at a major publishing company; The ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award, presented to an ASCAP member who is a promising musical theater lyricist or to a composer/lyricist team; and The ASCAP Foundation Louis Prima Award which is presented to a talented vocalist or musician attending the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts.

The ASCAP Foundation 2011 Award & Scholarship recipients are:
The ASCAP Foundation
Harold Adamson Lyric Award
Joe Iconis, Femke Weidema
The ASCAP Foundation Robert Allen Award
Chris Snyder
The ASCAP Foundation
Harold Arlen Film & TV Award
Matthew Janszen
The ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Scholarships
Dean Olsher, Barry Stephenson
The ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Scholarship (in honor of W.C. Handy)
Somto Imperial Anumba
The ASCAP Foundation "Reach Out and Touch" Award in honor of Nick Ashford
André Henry
The ASCAP Foundation Charlotte V. Bergen Scholarship
Anna Larsen
The ASCAP Foundation Irving Berlin Summer Camp Scholarship
EVan Johnson
The ASCAP Foundation
Leonard Bernstein Award
Wlad Marhulets
The ASCAP Foundation Freddy Bienstock Scholarship & Internship
Shane Ching
The ASCAP Foundation
Boosey & Hawkes Young Composer Award
(in honor of Aaron Copland)
Stella Fiorenzoli
The ASCAP Foundation Leon Brettler Award
Brent Wesley Rupard
The ASCAP Foundation
Irving Burgie Scholarship
Ebony Joi
The ASCAP Foundation
Irving Caesar Scholarship
Alexander Castillo, Gordon Lam,
Elvis Vanderpool-Krajnak
The ASCAP Foundation Sammy Cahn Award
Katie Herzig
The ASCAP Foundation
Desmond Child Anthem Award
Matthew Bubel
The ASCAP Foundation Cy Coleman Award
Mia Minichiello
The ASCAP Foundation
Eunice & Hal David Merit Award
Gretchen Parlato
The ASCAP Foundation
Fran Morgenstern Davis Scholarship
Bryn Holdsworth, Ivan Rosenberg
The ASCAP Foundation
John Denver Music Scholarship
Supported by BMG Chrysalis
Jordan Digby, Eyeshia McSwain
The ASCAP Foundation
Jamie deRoy & friends Award
Lance Horne
The ASCAP Foundation
Louis Dreyfus Warner/Chappell
City College Scholarship
(in honor of George & Ira Gershwin)
Antoine Cara
The ASCAP Foundation
Max Dreyfus Scholarship
Rona Siddiqui
The ASCAP Foundation
Film Scoring Scholarship
Sarah Eide
The ASCAP Foundation
Ira Gershwin Scholarship
Adam O'Farrill
The ASCAP Foundation Jay Gorney Award
Max Fisher
The ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/ Lorenz Hart Award
Christopher Dimond & Michael Kooman
The ASCAP Foundation
Bart Howard Songwriting Scholarship
Danielle Deckard
The ASCAP Foundation
Morton Gould Young Composer Award
Yuri Boguinia
The ASCAP Foundation BMG Chrysalis
Scholarship in honor of Quincy Jones
Aman Alem
The ASCAP Foundation Leo Kaplan Award
Anthony Cheung
The ASCAP Foundation
Steve Kaplan TV & Film Studies Scholarship
Sergio Jiménez Lacima
The ASCAP Foundation
Michelle and Dean Kay Award
Jeremy Silver
The ASCAP Foundation
Leiber & Stoller Music Scholarship
Stefani Feldman, Carlos Nieves
The ASCAP Foundation
Livingston & Evans Music Scholarship
Mayu Isom
The ASCAP Foundation
Frederick Loewe Scholarship
Benjamin Bonnema
The ASCAP Foundation
Barbara and John LoFrumento Award
Music Conservatory of Westchester
Music Therapy Institute
Eastchester School District
The ASCAP Foundation
Michael Masser Scholarship
Simon Wiskowski
The ASCAP Foundation
Henry Mancini Music Fellowship
David Pegel
The ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize
Eric Nathan
The ASCAP Foundation
Rudy Perez Songwriting Scholarship
Rebecca Carrasco
The ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award
Peter Mills
The ASCAP Foundation Louis Prima Award
Glenn Hall III
The ASCAP Foundation
Joe Raposo Children's Music Award
Chris Ballew, Garry Novikoff
The ASCAP Foundation
Joan and Irwin Robinson Scholarship
Samuel Disston Tall
The ASCAP Foundation
Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award
Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
The ASCAP Foundation
David Rose Centennial Award
Agatha Kasprzyk, Chad Rehmann
The ASCAP Foundation
Young Jazz Composer Award
Garth Neustadter

About The ASCAP Foundation
Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States. www.ascapfoundation.org