Thursday, November 3, 2011

RESTON, VA (November 3, 2011) – The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) announced an agreement with noted American composer Philip Lasser and the European American Musical Alliance (EAMA). The collaboration will provide exceptional opportunities for participants in the Composition Academy during Music Education Week in June 2012 and all students who enter the NAfME Student Composers Competition.

As a result of this agreement, all student compositions entered in the 2012 NAfME Student Composers Competition will receive an evaluation written by one of select composers from across the country. Lasser will lead a composition session for the competition winners and music educators who attend the NAfME Composition Academy, part of Music Education Week in Baltimore, Maryland in June, 2012.

Competition winners will receive a cash prize provided by the European American Musical Alliance, which is directed by Lasser. Winning compositions will be performed in a Millennium Stage Concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

"No student's music education is complete without experience in composition. It is included in the National Standards for Music Education because it is the creative source of music itself," said Daniel Deutsch, Chair of the NAfME Council for Music Composition. "When we teach composition to our students, we invite them into the inner world of music, and we deepen their mastery of musical language. NAfME encourages music educators to make composition an integral part of their courses of study by offering professional development academies and competitions such as this one to spark teacher and student interest. The written evaluations sponsored by EAMA will be a great resource to our nation's students and teachers."

A distinguished member of the faculty at The Juilliard School since 1994, Philip Lasser has won the Presidential Citation from the National Federation of Music Clubs for significant contribution to the world of American music and the Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His compositions have been performed by the Seattle Symphony, the New York Chamber Orchestra, Cho-Liang Lin, Simone Dinnerstein, Margo Garrett, and Zuill Bailey, among others. His works have been featured on New York's WQXR, and have been broadcast on NBC-TV, National Public Radio, Britain's XFM, and RTHK Radio Hong Kong.

The European American Musical Alliance (EAMA) is a not-for-profit organization committed to fostering and promoting the classical arts. Each summer in Paris, France, the EAMA offers intensive music programs in composition, conducting, and chamber music taught by professors from The Juilliard School, Indiana University, Mannes College of Music, Westminster Choir College, and other conservatories in the U.S. and abroad. The high school winner in the NAfME Student Composers Competition will be considered for acceptance into the EAMA Summer Music Program.

For more information, visit www.nafme.org.

National Association for Music Education, among the world's largest arts education organizations, marked its centennial in 2007 as the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. Through membership of more than 75,000 active, retired, and pre-service music teachers, and with 60,000 honor students and supporters, NAfME serves millions of students nationwide through activities at all teaching levels, from preschool to graduate school. NAfME's mission is to advance music education by encouraging the study and making of music by all. Since 1907, NAfME has worked to ensure that every student has access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, and high-quality program of music instruction taught by qualified teachers. NAfME activities and resources have been largely responsible for the establishment of music education as a profession, for the promotion and guidance of music study as an integral part of the school curriculum, and for the development of the National Standards for Arts Education.

The European American Musical Alliance is a not-for-profit organization committed to fostering and promoting the classical arts. Its mission is to teach and broaden interest in the arts, and to present composers and performers of the highest caliber. EAMA offers summer music programs in composition, conducting and chamber music at the historic Schola Cantorum in Paris, France. Taught in the tradition of the legendary Nadia Boulanger, these programs offer intensive study of the crafts of counterpoint, harmony, analysis, and musicianship. Courses are taught by professors from The Juilliard School, Indiana University, Mannes College of Music, Westminster Choir College, Peabody Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, the Paris Conservatory, the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and La Schola Cantorum. For more information, visit www.eamusic.org.

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