For distinguished musical composition by an American in any of the larger forms including chamber, orchestral, choral, opera, song, dance, or other forms of musical theatre, which has had its first performance in the United States during the year, One thousand dollars ($1,000).
In Memory of a Summer Day , by David Del Tredici
A work for soprano solo and orchestra, commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony for its 100th anniversary and premiered by that orchestra on February 23, 1980.
Finalists
Nominated as finalists in Music in 1980:
Lukas Foss
Premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra.
Morton Subotnick
Premiered at the Monday Evening Concerts, Los Angeles County Museum.
The Jury
The Jury
Alan M. Kriegsman(Chair)*
Music and Dance Critic, The Washington Post
Jacob Druckman*
Professor and Chair of Composition, Yale University
Karel Husa*
Kappa Alpha Professor of Music, Cornell University
Winners in Music
Joseph Schwantner
First performed by the American Composers Orchestra on January 29, 1979 in Alice Tully Hall New York City.
Michael Colgrass
Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and premiered by that orchestra October 20, 1977.
Richard Wernick
For mezzo-soprano and orchestra, premiered at the Aspen Music Festival, July 19, 1976. It was commissioned by the Festival's Conference on Contemporary Music, with assistance from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Ned Rorem
First performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on December 5, 1975. It is subtitled "Ten Etudes of Orchestra."
1980 Prize Winners
William A. Henry III
For critical writing about television.