Announcing the new music competition: Music International Grand Prix

Announcing the debut of Music International Grand Prix

 

 

We are thrilled to announce the inaugural season of Music International Grand Prix, a new international music competition which will culminate in a Winners Concert at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, May 1, 2021.  Talented musicians from around the world will compete for the Grand Prix award.  There will also be a special guest performance by Broadway and Film Star Adam Pascal, best known for his starring role in Rent. 

 

The competition categories are Voice (Classical and Popular), Piano, Strings, and Woodwinds & Brass.  There are four separate age groups:  Youth, Teen, Young Adult, and Adult.  Registration opened on August 1^st, 2020, and many exceptionally talented applicants have already registered.

 

The Grand Prix Award is $5000, and the 1^st Place Winners in each Category will also receive cash awards.  The 1^st Place Winners will perform at the Winners Concert at Zankel Hall to compete for the one Grand Prix Award.

 

The esteemed panel of Judges for the Grand Prix Competition include Adam Pascal, Per Brevig, Terrence Wilson, Diane Wittry, and Mark Cortale.  Biographies of the Judges can be found at the end of this Press Release.

 

To make it to the Winners Concert, contestants first enter the Quarterfinal Rounds with a video submission.  Qualified applicants will then be admitted to the Semifinals.  The Semifinals will be held either live online (depending on the situation with the pandemic) or live in person at various Semifinal locations across the country.  International Semifinalists will audition live online.  The top scorers will be invited to participate in the Finals in NYC on April 30, 2021.  The winners will be decided and announced that evening.  The following day, the winners will be awarded at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the 1^st Place Winners will perform and compete for the Grand Prix Award.

 

At the time of this press release, MIGP is inviting highly skilled musicians to be judges in the Semifinal rounds.  So far, Semifinals Judges include Deborah Thurlow, Professor of Voice at Washington Adventist University:  Brent Shires, Associate Professor of Horn at the University of Central Arkansas; Avguste Antonov, Professor of Piano at the Conservatoire de Chateaubriant in France; and Nayer Nagui, Principal Conductor for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Orchestra in Egypt.

 

Music International Grand Prix was founded by Elysabeth Muscat, a former professional opera singer who performed leading roles at the Zürich Opera, Staatsoper Prague, Vienna Kammeroper, Theater der Stadt Koblenz, L’Opéra Français, and more. She was a lyric colotura soprano and sang Adele in “Die Fledermaus”, Oscar in “Un ballo in maschera”, Gilda in “Rigoletto”, Musetta in “La Boheme”, Anna in “Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor”; Papagena in “Die Zauberflöte”, Zerbinetta in “Ariadne auf Naxos”, Clorinda in “La Cenerentola”, Bronislava in “Der Bettelstudent”, Stephano in “Roméo et Juliet”, Miss Wordsworth in “Albert Herring”, and various world premieres.  She was a frequent soloist with Orchestras in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.  She was the Chair of the Preparatory Voice Department at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where she was on the faculty from 2001 to 2015, and she also was Adjunct Voice Faculty of Peabody Conservatory for three years.  She was a board member for seven years of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, MD-DC Chapter, where she served as State Governor, President, and Vice President. Ms. Muscat has a Master of Music in Voice from the Mannes College of Music and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Tulane University. She has won numerous awards for voice, has given Master Classes and served as a judge for many vocal competitions. Her students have been accepted to all the top conservatories including Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music with scholarships, and many are now singing professionally, including National Broadway tours.  She currently has a private voice and piano studio in Virginia. She has been on the Board of the Prince William Arts Council since 2014.  Ms. Muscat has also been very involved in the ballet world, as Managing Director of Baltimore Ballet from 2000-2012, and Virginia National Ballet since 2013. 

 

With her background as a performer, administrator, teacher, and board member for a wide range of artistic organizations, and a desire to create a new, different competition to help budding and professional musicians in their careers, especially during this difficult time of COVID when there are fewer performance opportunities, Music International Grand Prix was created.  Special thanks go to Ms. Muscat’s husband Rafik Hegab, a Choreographer and Artistic Director of Virginia National Ballet, for suggesting the idea!

 

Music International Grand Prix is sponsored in part by Appcompanist, an App used by over 60,000 singers and voice teachers that have discovered the most endorsed practice app in the world, and MuseScore.com.    More Sponsors to be announced soon.

 

Music International Grand Prix’s website is www.musicinternationalgrandprix.com

 

Social Media Pages:

Facebook          https://www.facebook.com/MusicInternationalGrandPrix

Instagram         https://www.instagram.com/musicinternationalgrandprix/

YouTube           https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnJ2-wEqZiWES1IYqMQY3ww

Twitter              https://twitter.com/MIGrandPrix

LinkedIn            https://www.linkedin.com/in/musicinternationalgrandprix/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biographies of the Judges:

 

Adam Pascal, a Tony-nominee and Obie and Theatre World Award winning star, has created some of the most memorable roles in recent Broadway history. He shot to stardom for originating the role of Roger in the Broadway blockbuster Rent, as well as the London production, and starred in the film version. He also originated the role of Radames in Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, and was featured as the Emcee in the critically acclaimed revival of Cabaret directed by Sam Mendes. He has recently starred on Broadway in Memphis, Chicago and the original cast of Disaster! (co-written by Seth Rudetsky!) Other of his recent performances include the role of Freddie in Chess at the Royal Albert Hall in London, alongside both Idina Menzel and Josh Groban. This performance was recorded for PBS’ Great Performances series and has been released on DVD. He also reprised his starring role in the 2009 Broadway Tour of Rent. His film work, in addition to the screen version of Rent, includes SLC Punk!, School of Rock and the movie musical Temptation. He has also released two solo rock albums, “Model Prisoner” and “Civilian” for Sh-K-Boom Records. South Florida and Broward Center fans saw Adam most recently as William Shakespeare in the 2017 National Tour of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy Something Rotten!  Adam recently starred as Edward in the new musical Pretty Woman on Broadway.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Pascal

 

Per Brevig has been the president of the Musicians Club of New York since June 2018. He has served on the Board of Directors since 2010 and on every Jury of the Club's Serge & Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Awards since 2009. He was the principal trombonist of the Metropolitan Opera for 26 years, leaving the Met in 1994 to embark on an international conducting career. During his time at the Metropolitan Opera and continuing to the present, he has been a faculty member of The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New York University and the Aspen Music Festival and School, where a scholarship in his honor has been established. He has taught literally hundreds of students, many of whom hold top performance positions around the world. In 2016, the International Trombone Association honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.  Norwegian born, Mr. Brevig began playing trombone professionally at age 16 in his native country. His first position in ‘a symphony orchestra was with the Bergen (Norway) Philharmonic. After his tenure in Bergen, he moved to New York City, where he was appointed principal trombonist with the American Symphony Orchestra under the legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski,as well as a featured soloist with the orchestra, and became a first call freelancer. During these early years in New York, he completed his formal education at The Juilliard School, where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree, the only trombonist to have received a DMA from Juilliard.  He was one of the first trombonists to give full length recitals in New York. As a soloist, he has concertized worldwide. Highlights are performances at The Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. He has given master classes in the US, Japan, Europe, Korea, and Brazil.  Per Brevig has studied the medical problems faced by musicians and he serves on the Advisory Boards of Medical Problems of Performing Artists and Musikphysiologie und Musik Medizine, a publication from Stuttgard, Germany.  As a conductor, he has guest conducted internationally and was for many years music director of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra. A champion of Scandinavian music, he is founder and president of the Edvard Grieg Society, Inc., New York. In 1990,  King Olav V of Norway awarded him the Royal Medal of St. Olav in recognition of his efforts on behalf of Norwegian music and culture in the United States.  www.perbrevig.net

 

 

Terrence Wilson is a Grammy nominated pianist, who was acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as “one of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last 25 years”.  He has received numerous other awards and prizes, including the SONY ES Award for Musical Excellence, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the Juilliard Petschek Award. He has been featured on several radio and television broadcasts, including NPR’s “Performance Today,” WQXR radio in New York, and programs on the BRAVO Network, the Arts & Entertainment Network, public television, and as a guest on late night network television. He has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Washington, DC (National Symphony), San Francisco, St. Louis, and with the orchestras of Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Conductors with whom he has worked include Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Jesús López-Cobos, Lawrence Renes, Robert Spano, Yuri Temirkanov, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and Gunther Herbig.  Abroad, Terrence Wilson has played concerti with such ensembles as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has toured with orchestras in the US and abroad, including a tour of the US with the Sofia Festival Orchestra (Bulgaria) and in Europe with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.  An active recitalist, Terrence Wilson made his New York City recital debut at the 92nd Street Y, and his Washington, DC recital debut at the Kennedy Center. In Europe he has given recitals at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Lourvre in Paris, and countless other major venues. In the US he has given recitals at Lincoln Center in New York City (both Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall), the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, NY, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, and for the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. An avid chamber musician, he performs regularly with the Ritz Chamber Players. Festival appearances include the Blossom Festival, Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, with the San Francisco Symphony at Stern Grove Park, and an appearance with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra on July 4, 2015 before an audience of over fifteen thousand.  During the 2017-2018 season, Terrence Wilson appeared as guest soloist with the Alabama Symphony and made his debut with the Portland Symphony Orchestra. He also made his debut with the Richmond Symphony in performances of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. Other highlights of the season included a return appearance with the New Jersey Symphony, and chamber music performances with the Ritz Chamber Players in Jacksonville, Florida.  He was a guest soloist with the Omaha Symphony, the Hilton Head Symphony, and  the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia.  He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky. He has also enjoyed the invaluable mentorship of the Romanian pianist and teacher Zitta Zohar.   www.terrencewilsonpianist.com

 

Diane Wittry is an internationally acclaimed conductor who was recently named as one of the "Top 30 Professional Musicians" by Musical America, and the "Outstanding Alumnus of the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. A frequent guest conductor of professional orchestras, Diane Wittry has conducted orchestras in 11 countries throughout the world, including China, Poland, Canada, Bosnia, Russia, Slovakia, Japan, and Italy.  In the United States, Wittry has led performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Milwaukee, San Diego, Houston, New Jersey, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz,  among others, as well as conducting at the music festivals of Ojai (CA), Penn’s Woods (PA), and I-Park (CT). Wittry is the Music Director and Conductor of the Allentown Symphony, PA , and the Garden State Philharmonic, NJ, both professional orchestras.  She has established a reputation for her creative programming and innovative approach to concert formats and has been described as “a conductor who specializes in finding creative ways to make the music fresh, accessible, and exciting.”   A  tireless advocate for the development of extensive educational and community outreach programs, Diane Wittry won the Helen M Thompson Award from the League of American Orchestras for her work as an artistic leader.   Diane Wittry, is also known as the author of "Beyond the Baton," a book about artistic leadership for conductors, and "Baton Basics" a conducting technique book.  She is a frequent guest conducting teacher and lecturer at conducting workshops and music conservatories across the United States. More information on her work can be found at:  www.DianeWittry.com

 

Mark Cortale is an artist manager and producer who has worked with world stars including Kristen Chenowith, Vanessa Williams, Chita Rivera, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Chita Rivera, Megan Mullally, Christine Ebersole, and many more.  He founded the international Broadway @ Concert Series featuring Seth Rudetsky in Provincetown and has presented these concerts with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Broward Center, The Wallis, The Kimmel Center and the Leicester Square Theatre in London. In 2012 he formed the singing string quartet Well-Strung. Since 2011 he has been Producing Artistic Director of The Art House in Provincetown, MA.   In 2019, he produced the Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominated Off-Broadway musical Midnight At The Never Get which is slated to move to the Greenwich House Theatre in June of 2020. He manages Christine Ebersole, Melissa Errico, Jeffery Roberson aka Varla Jean Merman, Well-Strung, Tori Scott and Edmund Bagnell.  Mark is a former professional opera singer and has a B.A. in Voice from the Mannes College of Music.  www.markcortalepresents.com