American soprano Patricia Racette was honored at the sixth annual Opera News Awards, sponsored by the magazine, which is affiliated with the Metropolitan Opera. The event took place on April 17 at the Plaza Hotel.  Other honorees were tenor Jonas Kaufmann, conductor Riccardo Muti, soprano Kiri Te Kanawa and bass-baritone Bryn Terfel. In an essay giving lauds to Racette, writer Oussama Zahr touches on Racette being out in...

AP:  An annual $150,000 prize has been established by the foundation of Tony-winning playwright-director Arthur Laurents and partner Tom Hatcher. The Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award will be given for an unproduced, full-length play of social relevance by an emerging American playwright. The prize includes a $50,000 cash award for the selected playwright and a $100,000 grant for production costs of the play’s premiere...

Jennifer Higdon can add the 2010 Pulitzer Prize to her ever-growing list of accolades. She received the award today for her Violin Concerto, which was premiered by soloist Hilary Hahn (her former student at the Curtis Institute) in 2009. It was commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and The Curtis Institute of Music. The concerto is published by Lawdon Press,...

Pauline Oliveros has won the William Schuman Award from Columbia University. She’s the first woman composer to be so honored since the award was established in 1981.  The most recent winner was John Zorn in 2006. The prize “honors the lifetime achievement and lasting significance of a contemporary American composer” and comes with a $50,000 purse. A celebratory concert and tribute will be given in Miller Theater on...

Composer Jennifer Higdon earned her first Grammy Award, in the category of best contemporary classical composition, and guitarist Sharon Isbin earned her second, as best instrumental soloist. The awards were announced in Los Angeles prior to the telecast.  Higdon’s winning piece was a pecussion concerto performed by Colin Currie with Marin Alsop conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  Isbin won for her disc...

Twelve Songs by Charles Ives Theo Bleckmann and Kneebody Theo Bleckmann could sing me to sleep anytime he likes, even if he doesn’t want to snuggle.  The German-born, New York-based singer and composer has got a warm and engaging voice and oodles of good taste and insight.  He’s given an imaginative yet intimate treatment to songs of Charles Ives in a new disc with the experimental quintet Kneebody. The CD on Winter...

The 2009 OUT Music Awards (the first since 2006) were announced at a ceremony in New York on Tuesday, December 8: OUTSTANDING ROCK SONG: Stewed Tomatoes “Leather Daddy” OUTSTANDING POP SONG: Athena Reich “Love is Love” OUTSTANDING HIP HOP/RAP SONG: Jasper James “ROCKET” OUTSTANDING R & B/SOUL SONG: Nhojj “Love” OUTSTANDING ELECTRO/DANCE SONG: Brian Kent “Breathe Life” OUTSTANDING...

With five entries in each of more than 100 categories, the nominations for the 52nd annual Grammy Awards (announced on December 2) surely include plenty of gays and lesbians. But scanning the classical nominations, we’ve got: Conductor Marin Alsop‘s recording of Bernstein’s Mass nominated for Best Classical Album Guitarist Sharon Isbin‘s “Journey to the New World” nominated for Best Instrumental...