Eric Conway: Marquita Lister receives grant to advance the African American Art Song and Negro Spiritual!

Marquita Lister

Eric Conway writes:

Good morning Morgan Fine and Performing Arts Community,

I am pleased to announce that faculty member Marquita Lister, along with University of Michigan faculty member Louise Toppin, have been awarded the Thomas Hampson Award of the American Musicological Society.  This award was given specifically for their research in The African American Art Song and Arranged Negro Spiritual for a New Generation  project.  Their research has included commissioning new works by African American composers, multicultural composers and poets.  

Marquita Lister is the Vocal Coordinator in the Fine and Performing Arts Department as well as the director of the Morgan’s Opera program.    Louise Toppin is a professor of Music at University of Michigan as well as the director of the musical non-profit organization Videmus.

The prize to continue their research is $1,200 ( see congratulatory note below) .    

A hearty congratulations goes to Morgan’s own Marquita Lister for championing the music of the African American Art Song and Spiritual!

Best,

Eric

Begin forwarded message:

Subject: Thomas Hampson Award of the American Musicological Society

Dear Professor Toppin, dear Professor Lister,

As Chair of the Thomas Hampson Award Committee, I am delighted to inform you that your proposal, "The Art Songs of African Poets and Arranged Spirituals for a New Generation," has received the Hampson Award for 2018, which includes a $1200 prize. Congratulations!

We were unanimous in our enthusiasm for your project, which breathes new life into old songs and perpetuates the rich heritage of the African-American song and spirituals by revitalizing it with new works. This work perfectly fits the aims of the Hampson Award, which is dedicated to fostering "editions and scholarship on classic song in all its contexts."

You are cordially invited to attend the Business Meeting and Awards Ceremony of the American Musicological Society in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday, Nov. 3, at 5:45 pm, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel (in the room "Texas AB"). Please let me know if you will be able to attend. (I'm attaching the complete program of the conference, which lasts from Thurs.-Sun. Nov. 1-4.)

Could you also please send our Executive Director, Robert Judd (copied above) photos of yourselves, to be projected at the Awards Ceremony? 

I apologize for the late notice, which is entirely my fault. Please let me know if I can help out in any way.

all the best,

Anne Shreffler

Anne C. Shreffler

James Edward Ditson Professor of Music

Affiliate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures

Harvard University
Music Building
3 Oxford St.

Cambridge, MA 
USA     02138