Playwright Bryna Turner Among Lincoln Center's 2018 Emerging Artists

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts announced today the 2018 class of Emerging Artists, recognizing diverse talents, from a choreographer bridging the worlds of classical Indian and contemporary dance to one of the new faces of indie film to world-class musicians.

Each recipient was nominated by one of Lincoln Center's 11 resident organizations, acknowledging his or her extraordinary talent and budding career.

The 2018 winners are: pianist Michael Brown (Chamber Music Society); soprano Michelle Bradley (The Metropolitan Opera); filmmaker Eliza Hittman (Film Society of Lincoln Center); corps de ballet member Ashley Hod (New York City Ballet); dancer Davide Riccardo (School of American Ballet); pianist Conrad Tao (The Juilliard School); pianist Isaiah Thompson (Jazz at Lincoln Center); composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir (New York Philharmonic); bass-baritone Davóne Tines (Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts); playwright Bryna Turner (pictured, Lincoln Center Theater); and dancer and choreographer Preeti Vasudevan (The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts).

In addition, several of the recipients will be acknowledged with endowed awards. Michelle Bradley and Anna Thorvaldsdottir will each receive a Martin E. Segal Award, which has annually recognized two artists of exceptional talent early in their careers since 1986. Davóne Tines will receive THE HUNT Family Award, presented to the Emerging Artist nominated by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Davide Riccardo, will receive the Herbert Family Dance Award, presented to the nominee from the School of American Ballet. Each of THE ELEVEN awardees will receive $7,500 to be used for career advancement.

"The Emerging Artist Awards exemplify the shared mission of all eleven Lincoln Center residents toward furthering excellence in the performing arts. It is an honor to help foster the next generation of artistic leaders and a privilege to celebrate their exceptional talents as they embark on their careers," said Lincoln Center President Debora L. Spar.

The award winners will be celebrated on March 1 at 6:00 pm at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, featuring live performances by several of the Emerging Artists. More information is available at LincolnCenter.org/LCAwards2018.

Lincoln Center's longtime partner, The Movado Group Foundation, is the presenting sponsor of the Lincoln Center Awards for Emerging Artists evening. In addition to its financial support, the Foundation will provide a Movado watch to each of the award recipients.

"The Movado Group Foundation is thrilled to support the next generation of young individuals that will impact our culture," said Mary Leach, Chief Marketing Officer, Movado Group Inc. "We are proud to support Lincoln Center in this important endeavor and believe that each nominee has demonstrated an incredible level of commitment, discipline, and talent."

ABOUT THE ENDOWED AWARDS:

The Lincoln Center Awards for Emerging Artists continue the legacy of the Martin E. Segal Awards, which were established in 1986 by the Board of Directors of Lincoln Center in honor of the arts leader and former Lincoln Center chairman and his commitment to rising talents. Each year, the Segal Awards are given to two emerging artists, rotated annually among resident organizations. Over the last three decades, nearly a quarter of a million dollars has been given to more than 70 remarkable emerging artists associated with Lincoln Center. Past Martin E. Segal Award winners include pianists Jonathan Biss and Shai Wosner; the Brentano, Borromeo, and JACK string quartets; mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung; violinist Augustin Hadelich; director Thomas Kail; dancer Daniel Ulbricht; cellist Alisa Weilerstein; choreographer Christopher Wheeldon; jazz saxophonist Melissa Aldana; composers Jason Robert Brown and Michael John LaChiusa; and conductor Xian Zhang, among many others.

The Hunt Family Award, endowed by Lincoln Center Board member David Hunt, his wife Alice, and his brother Bruce, is given annually to a classical artist honoree nominated by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. This award was established as a testament to THE HUNT family's long dedication to the performing arts, beginning with David's parents, Margot and Alan. The award marks the family's commitment to budding talent at Lincoln Center and celebrates rising stars at the annual Lincoln Center Awards for Emerging Artists.

The Herbert Family Dance Award, established in 2016 by Lincoln Center Trustee Jim Herbert and his wife, Cecilia, recognizes a promising young dancer from the School of American Ballet as part of the Lincoln Center Awards for Emerging Artists. This award demonstrates the Herbert family's long-standing support of dancers and dance companies.

ABOUT THE 2018 AWARDEES:

Michelle Bradley, Metropolitan Opera, Martin E. Segal Award

Soprano Michelle Bradley of Versailles, Kentucky, is in her third year of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera. This season she appears as Clotilde in the Met's new production of Norma. She also performs with the New World and Santa Cruz Symphonies and appears in Don Giovanni at Teatro Municipal de Santiago. At the Met, she has sung a Woman of Crete in Idomeneo and the High Priestess in Aida. Bradley has been heard in recital at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and at New York City's Park Avenue Armory. She received her master's of music in vocal performance from Bowling Green State University and is the recipient of the 2015 Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award.

Michael Brown, Chamber Music Society

Pianist-composer Michael Brown, winner of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, has been described by the New York Times as "one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers." Recent highlights include appearances with the Seattle and Albany Symphonies, the Maryland and New HAVEN Symphony Orchestras, and the Erie Philharmonic, as well as appearances with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. He was selected by pianist András Schiff to perform across the U.S. and Europe this past season, including debut solo recitals in Zurich's Tonhalle and NYC's 92nd Street Y. As a composer, Brown is currently in the first year of a two-year residence with the New HAVEN Symphony.

Eliza Hittman, Film Society of Lincoln Center

Eliza Hittman is an award-winning filmmaker born and based in Brooklyn, New York. Her debut feature film It Felt Like Lovepremiered at the Sundance Film Festival in NEXT and the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Tiger Competition in 2013. It was a New York Times, Village Voice, and Los Angeles Times Critics' Pick, and Hittman was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Indie Film that year. Her second feature, Beach Rats, premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where she was given the Directing Award. The film later screened as the centerpiece of the 2017 edition of New Directors/New Films presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and MoMA. She is an assistant professor of film/video at Pratt Institute.

Ashley Hod, New York City Ballet

Ashley Hod is a member of New York City Ballet's corps de ballet. She was born in Great Neck, New York, and began her dance training at the age of four at the Great Neck School of Dance. In 2003, she began training at the School of American Ballet, the official school of NYCB. Hod became an apprentice with NYCB in November 2012 and joined the company as a member of the corps de ballet in October 2013. Since joining NYCB, she has danced featured roles in ballets by George Balanchine, Peter Martins, and Jerome Robbins, and originated roles in ballets by Kim Brandstrup, Annabelle LOPEZ Ochoa, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Troy Schumacher, and Christopher Wheeldon.

Davide Riccardo, School of American Ballet, Herbert Family Dance Award

Davide Riccardo is an advanced student at the School of American Ballet (SAB). Riccardo began his classical ballet training at the Emma Prioli School in Sicily at the age of five. At 12 he left his home in Messina to train at the ROME Opera Ballet School. Inspired by photos and videos of choreography by George Balanchine, Riccardo traveled to the U.S. to audition for the School of American Ballet at the age of 16. He is currently completing his third year of training as a member of SAB's Advanced Men's class and performed featured roles in SAB's 2016 Workshop Performances (Les Gentilhommes, The Four Temperaments) and two principal roles in the 2017 Workshop (Scotch Symphony, Scènes de Ballet). Riccardo, now 18, choreographed a new work to music by Philip Glass for SAB's 2017 Student Choreography Workshop.

Conrad Tao, The Juilliard School

Conrad Tao has appeared worldwide as a pianist and composer, performing to acclaim from critics and audiences alike. His accolades and awards include being named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a YoungArts gold medal-winner in music, a Gilmore Young Artist, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant winner. In his career as a composer, he has garnered eight consecutive ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards and the Carlos Surinach Prize from BMI for works including commissions from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Pacific Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, and many more. His two Warner Classics albums Voyages and Pictures have been praised by NPR, the New York Times, The New Yorker's Alex Ross, and others.

Isaiah Thompson, Jazz at Lincoln Center

Isaiah J. Thompson is a jazz pianist in his third undergraduate year at The Juilliard School. He began studying classical piano at the age of five and quickly branched out to other styles. He has performed with major artists, including Christian McBride, Terell Stafford, and Rodney Whitaker, and he recently recorded Handful of Keys with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Thompson believes that artistry is a direct channel into the mind and soul of an artist, and as such, feels that it is important to not lose sight of the importance of one's individuality or that of others. This has led to his ardent advocacy for diversity within his field. As a performer, he tries to emit a feeling of joy and convey his personal experiences through music, and his continued learning about jazz.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir, New York Philharmonic, Martin E. Segal Award

Anna Thorvaldsdottir frequently works with large sonic structures that tend to reveal the presence of a vast variety of sustained sound materials, reflecting her sense of imaginative listening to landscapes and nature. Her music tends to portray a flowing world of sounds with an enigmatic lyrical atmosphere. She is the recipient of the 2012 Nordic Council Music Prize for her work Dreaming, and the New York Philharmonic's Kravis Emerging Composer Award in 2015. Thorvaldsdottir holds a Ph.D. from the University of California in San Diego. Her music has been recorded on the Deutsche Grammophon and Sono Luminus labels.

Davóne Tines, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Hunt Family Award

During the 2017-18 season, Davóne Tines debuts at the San Francisco Opera in the world premiere of Girls of the Golden Westby John Adams and Peter Sellars, the Opéra National de Paris in Kaija Saariaho's Only the Sound Remains, and the Brooklyn Academy Of Music in Matthew Aucoin's Crossing. Other appearances include Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex at the Baltic Sea Festival conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, and both Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Gustavo Dudamel. Past highlights include John Adams's El Niño with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Kaija Saariaho's True Fire with the Orchestre National de France. Tines graduated from Harvard University and received a master's of music degree from The Juilliard School.

Bryna Turner, Lincoln Center Theater

Bryna Turner is a Brooklyn-based playwright originally from Northern California. Her play BULL in a China Shop recently premiered at LCT3, directed by Lee Sunday Evans. Turner's work has been developed with Abingdon Theatre Company, Clubbed Thumb, Colt Coeur, Ensemble Studio Theatre, LCT3, Mount Holyoke College, Rutgers University, and Rainbow Theatre Project. Other plays include: Carlo at the Wedding, Lights Over Philo, The Stand-In, and How to Separate Your Soul from Your Body (in ten easy steps!). She is an alumna of Clubbed Thumb's Early Career Writer's Group and holds an MFA in Playwriting from Rutgers University.

Preeti Vasudevan, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

An award-winning Indian choreographer, performer, and educator, Preeti Vasudevan is an exponent of classical Indian dance (Bharatanatyam), creating new, provocative contemporary works from this tradition. Highlights include: Spring 2016 Resident Fellow, Center for Ballet and the Arts, NYU; Artist-in-Residence, New York Live Arts (2015-17); 2015 DPA Atelier Award, LIMS; commissioned work, Veiled Moon, Metropolitan Museum of Art (2015); presenter at the 2013 TEDxBarnardCollege, Columbia University; commissioned work, Drumming a Dream, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (2009); Mahindra Excellence in Theater Awards, India (2009, 2013). Vasudevan founded the performing arts collaborative Thresh in 2005 as a platform to create her new works, and she also created the ground-breaking educational website Dancing for the Gods, which serves as a cultural bridge for creative learning in NYC public schools. She holds a master's in dance studies from Laban Dance Centre London and is a certified movement analyst from the Laban Institute of Movement Studies in New York.

The Movado Group Foundation serves as the philanthropic arm of Movado Group, Inc., which is the owner of the Movadobrand of timepieces. Movado has earned more than 100 patents and 200 international awards for artistry and innovation since its founding in 1881. It is a brand renowned for its modern design aesthetic and is closely associated with the fine and cultural arts, as illustrated by the Museum Dial's inclusion in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. The Movado Museum® Watch, with its celebrated single-dot dial, is one of the most iconic dial designs of all time. Today, all Movado watches are distinguished by this legacy of design innovation and excellence.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community engagement, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA offers a variety of festivals and programs, including American Songbook, Avery Fisher Career Grants and Artist program, David Rubenstein Atrium programming, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Awards for Emerging Artists, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Vera List Art Project, LC Kids, Midsummer Night Swing, Mostly Mozart Festival, White Light Festival, the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS, and Lincoln Center Education, which is celebrating more than four decades enriching the lives of students, educators, and lifelong learners. As manager of the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Theater, The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, School of American Ballet, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

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