Nickitas Demos, Dan Lazarescou and Patrick O’Malley Recognized with

 Special Distinction

NEW YORK, Feb. 10, 2023 – The ASCAP Foundation is pleased to announce that Iván Enrique Rodríguez has been named recipient of the 43rd annual ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize. The prize was awarded for Sinfonia No. 2: Naa Okùnkùn ti Òkúta Dídán, an approximately 15-minute work for orchestra. Selected by a panel of conductors, Rodríguez is awarded a prize of $5,000.

The music of Puerto Rican composer, Iván Enrique Rodríguez  is inspired by the factual human experience. His works have been performed in Puerto Rico and throughout the continental U.S., South America and Europe.

Named as one 2021 Top Professionals of the Year by Musical America, Rodríguez has received awards including the Rimini International Choral Competition Prize in Italy, and the International Composition Competition Maurice Ravel award. He participated in the American Composers Orchestra EarShot Program, where his piece Luminis received its U.S. premiere by Rossen Milanov, Music Director of the Columbus Symphony, and earned an “Audience Choice” award. As composer-in-residence, he has a current invitation to Sweden’s Lövstabruks Kammarmusikfestival, and last year he was welcomed similarly to the renowned Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Rodríguez is the recipient of an ASCAP Foundation Leonard Bernstein Award and received an Honorable Mention in the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. In 2018, he was named a Puerto Rican Heritage Ernesto Malave Scholar of the Arts by Comité Noviembre, based in New York City.

As Rodríguez’s musical-social involvement continues to grow, his latest compositions have been focused on social justice and activism, influenced by his Puerto Rican musical heritage. A Metaphor for Power was selected by the prestigious Edward T. Cone Composition Institute and received its world premiere by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the renowned conductor, Cristian Măcelaru. Rodríguez’s commitment to human rights, equality and justice led him to collaborate in 2019 with the Vision Collective on their first tour through Nigerian, Iraqi, Georgian, Syrian, and Turkish refugee camps based in Germany. Musica de Camara, Inc. commissioned and premiered his Concerto for Puerto Rican Cuatro and String Orchestra at El Museo del Barrio in New York City. Rodríguez’s works have been commercially recorded by acclaimed trumpeter Luis “Perico” Ortiz, as well as guitarist John Rivera Pico. A forthcoming recording with Fourte Guitar Quartet is soon to be released.

Iván Enrique Rodríguez received his Bachelor of Music degree at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, studying with Alfonso Fuentes. He earned his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Melinda Wagner and is currently pursuing his Doctor in Musical Arts degree at Juilliard where he has been the recipient of the Gretchaninoff Memorial Prize, the Bernard Jaffe Scholarship and Commission, the James D. Rosenthal and Marvin Y. Schofer Scholarship, the King Doctoral Scholarship, as well as the C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellowship.

The Jury also awarded Special Distinction to Nickitas Demos of Atlanta, GA for Three Soundscapes for Symphonic Winds, Dan Lazarescou of Dallas, TX for Impressions from the Black Sea for full orchestra; and Patrick O’Malley of Los Angeles, CA and Lake Charlevoix, MI for Obliviana for full orchestra.

Dr. Rudolf Nissim, former head of ASCAP's International Department and a devoted friend of contemporary composers, established this prize through a bequest to The ASCAP Foundation. The Prize is presented to an ASCAP concert composer for a work requiring a conductor that has not been performed professionally. A jury of three conductors selects the winning score.

The judges for this year’s Nissim Prize were: James Blachly, Music Director of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and of the Experiential Orchestra, Tong Chen, Assistant Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony and Founder of the new music project, "NOW!";  and Julius P. Williams, Music Director and Conductor of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra and president of the Conductors Guild.

About The ASCAP Foundation

Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States. www.ascapfoundation.org

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Press Contact:

Cathy Nevins at ASCAP

cnevins@ascap.com

Iván Enrique Rodríguez

Sinfonia No. 2: Naa Okùnkùn ti Òkúta Dídán (2020)

Duration: c. 15 minutes

Instrumentation: Full Orchestra

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Program Note:

After exhaustive afternoons contemplating how to use words to express this work, and several pages of absolute honesty writings, I face the same intense feelings and fears, as well as my passion for my Puerto Rican, Latin and Afro-Caribbean ancestry that initially fueled the creation of this piece. Naa Okùnkùn ti Òkúta Dídán (Yoruba for: The Darkness of the Shining Stone) is a symphony of classical proportions. Each of the movements represent the challenges, difficulties, and fears that have been intrinsic to my life. Experiences so complex and frightening that I can only express them through music. By using a single melody, fragmented into four sections that are ultimately unified in the main axiom of the symphony, I try to present a moment that visits me daily. During that enigmatic instant of the morning when, for the first time in the day, I confront my reflection in the mirror, a fatigued but stubborn question seizes my attention: Does everyone see what I see when I look at my face?... Perhaps I have received the answer multiple times, both physically and emotionally... However, it keeps visiting me every morning.

Premiere: Sinfonía No.2 was premiered by The Juilliard Orchestra in the spring of 2022.