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ASCAP Concert Music
The ASCAP Foundation Names Recipients of 2026 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards
Noah Bendix-Balgley visits ASCAP
ASCAP composer Noah Bendix-Balgley (second from right), in town for a performance of his "Fidl-Fantazye: A Klezmer Concerto," poses with the ASCAP team in front of a piano once owned by ASCAP founder Victor Herbert. Noah's great grandfather played in the Pittsburgh Symphony under the baton of Maestro Herbert himself!
Nathalie Joachim visits ASCAP
Composer Nathalie Joachim (center) with ASCAP's Cia Toscanini and Michael Spudic in early February, 2020 - two weeks after Joachim earned a coveted United States Artists Fellowship. Joachim's recent album Fanm d'Ayiti was nominated for a 2020 Grammy (Best World Music Album).
December 13, 2019: Kinds of Kings visit ASCAP
The all-ASCAP composer collective Kinds of Kings visit ASCAP HQ, just ahead of their concert at National Sawdust. Pictured (l-r): composers Shelley Washington & Susanna Hancock, ASCAP's Cia Toscanini, composers Gemma Peacocke & Maria Kaoutzani, ASCAP's Michael Spudic
Hillary Purrington's "Harp of Nerves" World Premiered at Zankel Hall
On November 13, 2019, ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award winner Hillary Purrington had her guitar concerto "Harp of Nerves" world premiered at Zankel Hall. Pictured (l-r) are Purrington, guitarist JIJI, artist manager Steven D. Shaiman and ASCAP's Michael Spudic.
Music at St. Paul’s: The Music of Roy Jennings
On September 10, 2019, the music of ASCAP composer Roy Jennings was featured at a concert inaugurating a new season of Sacred Music at Columbia University, with a full season of Tuesday concerts, all free and open to the public. Pictured are (l-r) series curator and ASCAP composer Julian Bennett Holmes, Jennings, his wife Eva Jennings, vocalists Pamela E. Jones (soprano), Lucia Bradford-Wiggins (mezzo-soprano) and Angela L. Owens (soprano) and ASCAP's Michael Spudic.
A visit from Gabriel Kahane, Anahita Abbasi and Lynn Kao
(l-r) ASCAP's Cia Toscanini, composers Gabriel Kahane, Anahita Abbasi and Lynn Kao, and ASCAP's Michael Spudic. The three composers each dropped in for a visit at ASCAP's 20th floor lounge on August 6, 2019.
ASCAP with the Iranian Female Composers Association
(l-r) Composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh, ASCAP's Cia Toscanini, composers Aida Shirazi & Anahita Abbasi and ASCAP's Michael Spudic. All three ASCAP-licensed composers are members of the Iranian Female Composers Association. The photo was taken after a sold-out concert of their works, August 5, 2019 at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts, presented as part of the 2019 Mostly Mozart Festival.
Michael Schachter visits ASCAP
ASCAP composer Michael Schachter (center) visits ASCAP's Cia Toscanini (l) and Michael Spudic on July 25, 2019. The previous night, Schachter's enthralling work The Black Clown (based on a poem by ASCAP member Langston Hughes) made its New York premiere at Lincoln Center.
John Mauceri joins ASCAP
On June 28, 2019, renowned conductor, recording artist and educator John Mauceri stopped by our NYC HQ to officially join the ASCAP family! He's pictured here with ASCAP's Cia Toscanini (l) and Seth Saltzman (r).
Julia Wolfe named 2019 Composer of the Year by Musical America
Julia Wolfe celebrates being named 2019 Composer of the Year by Musical America with ASCAP staff, composer members and music industry colleagues. Photo by Stephanie Berger.
Alvin Singleton with ASCAP Board & Execs
ASCAP composer Alvin Singleton (center) visits the ASCAP office on June 10, 2019. Pictured (l-r) are ASCAP's Cia Toscanini, ASCAP Board member Alex Shapiro, Singleton, ASCAP's Michael Spudic & ASCAP Board member James M. Kendrick.
Niloufar Nourbakhsh with ASCAP's Cia Toscanini
Composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh visits with ASCAP's Cia Toscanini on June 25, 2019, the same day she joined ASCAP. Nourbakhsh is the founder of the Iranian Female Composers Association, an organization dedicated to empowering Iranian women in music and the arts by fostering originality, honoring diversity and strengthening equality.
Carlos Simon with ASCAP's Cia Toscanini
Rising composer Carlos Simon visits with ASCAP's Cia Toscanini on March 30, 2019. Simon was named a "Composer to Watch" at the 2015 NYU/ASCAP Foundation Film Scoring Workshop In Memory of Buddy Baker; he was also chosen to participate in the 2019 ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop in LA.
"Hyphenated-Americans" composers
On February 20 at Merkin Hall (Kaufman Music Center), the New York Festival of Song presented "Hyphenated-Americans:" a concert of music by foreign composers who now call America home, along with first-generation American composers. (l-r) ASCAP's Michael Spudic with featured ASCAP composer Bright Sheng, New York Festival of Song co-founder Michael Barrett, and featured ASCAP composers Roberto Sierra and Daniel Sabzghabaei. The music of ASCAP composer Clarice Assad (not in attendance) was also featured on the program. Photo by Cherylynn Tsushima.
Soundwaves concert
At the Soundwaves concert at First Presbyterian Church of Far Rockaway, June 14, 2019: (l-r) Kyle Walker (pianist), Emily Kalish (violinist), Eun Lee (arts administrator/activist), Jeff Scott (composer/Imani Winds French hornist), Aqueelah Ligonde (Pastor) and ASCAP's Michael Spudic. The concert featured music by Margaret Bonds, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (arr. Maud Powell), Jeff Scott, Roberto Sierra and William Grant Still, followed by a conversation on music as a vehicle for activism with composer Jeff Scott and other community members expressing their viewpoints concerning the ongoing impact of climate change in the Rockaways.
ASCAP's Cia Toscanini with ASCAP composers George Tsontakis & Melissa Dunphy
ASCAP’s always been a great resource for information for me, really great for helping to figure out the different parts of the business without a financial interest in me - trying to figure out what’s actually best for my music, or best for a direction I’m supposed to go.
— David Lang
Meet the ASCAP Concert Music team
Cia Toscanini
Vice President, Concert Music
Michael Spudic
Membership Representative, Concert Music