Rubin Institute for Music Criticism to Run 11/5-10

San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today revealed the names of the journalists participating in the second Stephen and Cynthia Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, taking place November 5-10, 2014 in its new home on the West Coast. A biennial, week-long event solely devoted to the art of classical music criticism, the Rubin Institute brings together distinguished journalists, aspiring young writers and renowned musicians for a keynote address, lectures by critics, public performances, discussion panels, and critical reviews, culminating in the awarding of both the $10,000 Rubin Prize in Music Criticism to one of the participating writers for demonstrating outstanding promise in musical criticism, and the $1,000 Everyone's A Critic Public Audience Prize for the best review by an audience member of a concert performed during the Institute.

Joining the 2014 Rubin Institute as members of the Writers Panel will be Anne Midgette, Washington Post critic and author; Tim Page, professor, journalism and music, University of Southern California; John Rockwell, writer and arts critic; Alex Ross, The New Yorker magazine critic and author; Heidi Waleson, Wall Street Journal critic and author; and Rubin Institute benefactor Stephen Rubin, President and Publisher of Henry Holt & Co., whose writing credits include having written features for The New York Times for over a decade. In addition, Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times chief music critic, will give the keynote address and Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle music critic, will be the Critic-In-Residence and chair the Everyone's a Critic Public Audience Prize judging panel.

Performance and Conservatory/University Partners:
The Rubin Institute will include four public concerts offered November 6 through 9 in the San Francisco area presented by the 2014 Performance Partners: the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, Cal Performances and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. These performances will be reviewed by a select group of 20 young writers, all Rubin Institute Fellows, pursuing degrees at the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Yale School of Music and SFCM. Their work will be critiqued in private workshops and public sessions by the Writers Panel. (Names of participating Rubin Institute Fellows will be announced in early fall. Full event details may be found in the attached schedule of public events.)
(Note: journalists participating in The Rubin Institute are not reviewing the concerts in The Rubin Institute for their respective publications, with the exceptions of local journalists Joshua Kosman and Steven Winn.)

Rubin Prize in Music Criticism:
The $10,000 Prize is awarded to one of the Rubin Institute Fellows to support the Fellow's further study or internships in the field of music criticism. Awarded by the Writers Panel, the award is disbursed over a two-year period.

Everyone's A Critic Public Audience Prize:
Audience members attending the Performance Partners' concerts are invited to submit criticism and compete for the $1,000 Everyone's A Critic Public Audience Prize, awarded for the best review by an audience member of one of the concerts. The Audience Prize judging panel for the 2014 Institute comprises panel chair Joshua Kosman; Steven Winn, freelance writer and critic; Wynne Delacoma, freelance arts writer, lecturer and music critic; and Robert Commanday, founding editor of San Francisco Classical Voice, lecturer and music critic.

In making the announcement, San Francisco Conservatory of Music President David H. Stull thanked Mr. Rubin for his support, stating, "We are tremendously excited to host the Stephen and Cynthia Rubin Institute for Music Criticism at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. This program dramatically enhances the discourse and awareness of classical music and will provide an extraordinary opportunity to aspiring music critics to engage with the great musical artists and writers of our time. I am deeply grateful to Stephen Rubin for his vision and continued support of this program."
Stephen Rubin stated, "There are no better music critics in America than the powerhouse group we have at the Institute, and I am pleased all of our faculty are returning for a second time. I am deeply grateful to them, and to David Stull, the dynamo head of the Conservatory, who took an unformed idea and gave it substance and value."

Birgit Hottenrott, Executive Director of the Rubin Institute, commented on the unique opportunities presented to Bay Area audiences, "The Rubin Institute will bring to Bay Area audiences a rare chance both to learn about and to participate in the craft of classical music journalism by submitting their personal concert reviews. Throughout the week we look forward to lively public discussions and debate by our audience critics, the professional critics and the Rubin Institute Fellows."

Rubin Institute Fellows will attend and write pieces on each of the four consecutive public concerts. Their written work will be critiqued both privately and publicly by the members of the Writers Panel. Members of the public will enjoy access to the Writers Panel through lectures and panels detailed in the attached schedule.

Select Institute Fellows' and Everyone's A Critic reviews will be posted on The Rubin Institute website at: www.sfcm.edu/rubin-institute.

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