Solti Foundation U.S. Awards Sixth $25,000 Grant

Now in its eleventh year of assisting exceptional young U.S. conductors to further develop their talent and careers, The Solti Foundation U.S. is pleased to announce that it is awarding its sixth $25,000 grant, The Solti Conducting Fellow, and a groundbreaking nine Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards, resulting in over $90,200 in grants (including funding for the organization's new Opera Residency program this 2014-15 season, which awarded two residencies). Since 2004, the Foundation has awarded 45 grants to promising musicians at the start of their professional careers.

An organization dedicated to identifying and assisting young conductors early on, the Foundation is also concerned with the long-term development of its award recipients, continuing to offer support and maintaining a constant interest in their growth and achievements. The 2015 awards recognize not only conductors new to The Solti Foundation U.S. family, but also several conductors previously acknowledged.

"This is a very exciting time in the classical music world," stated Penny Van Horn, Solti Foundation U.S. Board Chair. "There is an amazing number of talented young artists in the United States who have demonstrated their passion, dedication and desire to forge careers on orchestral and operatic stages.

"It is with great pleasure that we announce Vladimir Kulenovic, whom we first recognized in 2012 with a Career Assistance Award as the recipient of this year's The Solti Conducting Fellow. In 2014 Vladimir was the recipient of the first Solti Opera Residency with the Milwaukee-based Florentine Opera Company. Since 2012, when he was Associate Conductor of Utah Symphony | Utah Opera, and had served as Principal Conductor of the Kyoto International Music Festival in Japan, Vladimir's talent on the podium has been further recognized. He has recently added two posts: that of Resident Conductor of Serbia's Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, and Music Director of Illinois's Lake Forest Symphony. His guest conducting career also continues to grow.

"We are equally pleased to announce the nine recipients of The Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Awards: Kazem Abdullah, Generalmusikdirektor of the City of Aachen, Germany; Joseph Young, Assistant Conductor

of the Atlanta Symphony and Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra ; Ankush Kumar Bahl, Assistant Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra; Karina Canellakis, Assistant Conductor of the

Dallas Symphony Orchestra; Joshua Gersen, Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic and Music Director of the New York Youth Symphony; Yuga Cohler, Music Director of the Weill Cornell Medical College Orchestra, and New York City Director of the Asia America New Music Initiative; Daniel Black, Assistant Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; Keitaro Harada, Associate Conductor of Richmond Symphony; and Nicholas Hersh, Assistant Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. We look forward to their continued success."

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