Art Song Composition Award Winners in Concert
Sunday, June 30, 2024 | 3:45 p.m.
58th NATS National Conference
Knoxville Convention Center Lecture Hall
PROGRAM
2023 Winner
Weave Me a Name music by Rene Orth poetry by Jeanne Minahan
1. Beginnings
2. One of Nine Children, Your (Wild) Grandmother
3. The Return
4. The Plaits
5. Your Turn
6. The Single Mother
7. Handiwork
Emily Albrink, soprano Kathleen Kelly, piano
~ PAUSE ~
2024 Winner
Sea Creatures music by Jodi Goble
1. Sea poetry by Katherine Mansfield
2. I would bathe in the sky’s blue poetry by Helen Birch Bartlett
3. Young Sea poetry by Carl Sandburg
4. Gulls poetry by Winifred Bryher
5. The world below the brine poetry by Walt Whitman
6. Sand-Memory poetry by Frederick R. McCreary
Shelby VanNordstrand, soprano Jodi Goble, piano
Rene Orth, composer 2023 Winner
Jodi Goble, composer 2024 Winner
Rene Orth has been hailed “a master composer” with a “sophisticated sound world” (Classical Voice North America). She writes music described as “always dramatic, reflective, rarely predictable, and often electronic” (Musical America). She recently completed a three-year tenure as Composer-In-Residence at Opera Philadelphia. This season, Opera Philadelphia presented the “triumphant world premiere” (Wall Street Journal) of 10 Day in a Madhouse, cocommissioned by Opera Philadelphia and Tapestry Opera. The New York Times writes, “opera needs works like 10 Days, which treats the medium with affection and respect while also chafing at its tropes throughout history.” Other projects include a song cycle for Vocal Arts DC and mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, premiering at The Kennedy Center; a new song, A Prayer, for baritone Will Liverman and mezzo-soprano J’nai Bridges; and an electronics and voice piece for mezzosoprano Raehann Bryce-Davis’ forthcoming debut album, Stand the Storm. The Chautauqua Institution also premieres Love, Loss, and the Century Upon Us (libretto by Jerre Dye) with a 13-piece orchestra. Learn more at reneorth.com.
Emily Albrink, soprano, just released her debut album Force of Nature with pianist, Kathleen Kelly, on the Lexicon Classics Label. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Classical Billboard Charts and features world premiere commissions by Jake Heggie, Rene Orth, Nailah Nombeko and Steve Rouse. She has sung leading roles with the Washington National Opera, Kentucky Opera, Charlottesville Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Boston, Indianapolis Opera, and Chicago Opera Theater and has been a featured soloist with orchestras including the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Baltimore Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, and Louisville Orchestra. Albrink has appeared at Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, and she has performed internationally in China and France. She is on the voice faculty at the University of Louisville School of Music.
Kathleen Kelly’s projects and repertoire are wide-ranging and diverse. She is both deeply experienced in the classical vocal canon and engaged in new creation. Recent notable projects include Force of Nature, a recording and recital tour with soprano Emily Albrink of four world premiere song cycles; leading the world premiere of Matt Bohler’s opera Fat Pig, composed for activist soprano Tracy Cox; and co-starring in the filmed opera Interstate, composed by Kamala Sankaram, directed by Tonya McKinny, and produced by Minnesota Opera and Helio Arts. Kelly is co-librettist with baritone Michael Kelly for The House of Yes, an opera by Kamala Sankaram in development with Wolf Trap Opera. She has appeared in recital collaborations with many singers, most recently Jamie Barton, Elena Villalon, Ryan McKinny and Caitlin Lynch. She has performed internationally including at Wigmore Hall, Weill Hall, Zankel Hall, the Kennedy Center, Spivey Hall and Vienna’s Musikverein. She is a published poet and essayist and has written several English adaptations of operas as well as several librettos. She has worked with many opera companies including the San Francisco, Metropolitan, Houston Grand, and Vienna State Operas, and she is regularly invited to speak and write on women’s issues in the industry. Recently relocated to Texas, she is the founding artistic director of Lone Star Songs.
Composer Jodi Goble writes text-based, character-driven music fueled by her extensive background as a vocal coach and song-specialist collaborative pianist. Her compositions have been performed across the United States and internationally and featured on National Public Radio. She won the Iowa Music Teachers Association Commission Competition in 2013. Previously, Goble received second prize in the 2017 NATS Art Song Composition Award. She was a finalist in 2008, 2018, 2021, and 2022, and she received an honorable mention in 2016. Her art songs are published in anthologies by New Music Shelf and North Star Music.
Goble’s recent commissions include works for Seaglass Theater, Really Spicy Opera, I, the Siren, Voices of the Pearl, the Durward Ensemble, and Laura Strickling’s GRAMMY-nominated 40x40 Project. Her works have recently been performed at the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago’s Spring Lieder Lounge, the ASEAN Festival of Contemporary Music, Calliope’s Call, Songfest, the National Opera Center in New York City, the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris, San Francisco Opera’s Atrium Sessions, Jordan Hall, Ames Town and Gown, Omaha Under the Radar, and the Art Song Preservation Society of New York. Her fourth opera, The Eleanors, a commission from Sherrill Milnes and the Savannah V.O.I.C.E. Festival, will be workshopped in Savannah in August and premiered in summer 2025.
Goble is a full teaching professor in voice at Iowa State University, the official pianist for the Simon Estes Roots and Wings Community Concert Series, and the official accompanist for the Metropolitan Opera’s Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition Auditions in Iowa. Learn more at jodigoble.com.
Shelby VanNordstrand has appeared as a soprano soloist from Omaha to Indonesia, China, Japan, Hawaii, Lithuania and Oman. You can hear her on the 2024 album Storms and Stars: Songs for Soprano by Jodi Goble, which was awarded Honorable Mention in The American Prize’s Women in Art Song division. As a teacher, her students have been named winners of the National Association of Teachers of Singing NSA at the state, regional and national levels and winners of the National Opera Association’s Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition. As a clinician, she has presented at the National Collegiate Music Society conference, the National Opera Association conference, the West Central Region’s NATS conference, and other state and regional conferences. She currently serves on the National Opera Association board and the Opera Omaha Advisory board. VanNordstrand is associate professor of voice at the University of Nebraska Omaha, where she serves as voice area coordinator. Learn more at shelbyvannordstrand.com or on Instagram: @shelbyvn
About the Award
Established in 1983, the NATS Art Song Composition Award continues to inspire and encourage the creation of quality vocal literature. American composer Lori Laitman generously sponsors the first and second cash prizes, and she provides winners with a two-year paid NATS membership. Carol Mikkelsen established third prize, the Judith Cloud Award, this year.
Previous
Winners
2022 | Ericsson Hatfield
2021 | Jeffrey Ryan
2020 | Kurt Erickson
2019 | Philip Lasser
2018 | Benjamin C.S. Boyle
2017 | Matt Boehler
2016 | David Conte
2014 | Robert Patterson
2012 | Melissa Dunphy
2010 | David Sisco
2008 | Thomas Cipullo
2006 | David Cutler
2004 | Mark Glick
2002 | Mark Hijleh
2000 | Greg Armbruster
1998 | Brian Beaumont Hayes & Greg Armbruster
1996 | Jennifer Geiring
1995 | Louise Beach
1993 | Simon A. Sargon
1992 | Mark L. Weiser
1990 | Ronald Perera
1989 | Loretta Jankowski
1987 | David Francis Urrows
1986 | Gardner Read
1984 | Richard Hervig
Submissions for the 2025 Art Song Composition Award are due December 1, 2024. The NATS Art Song Composition Award program is led by Carol Mikkelsen, coordinator, and Lori Laitman, advisor.
REQUIREMENTS - The work must be:
(1) a song cycle, group of songs, or extended song between 13 and 25 minutes in length. Genres other than the classical “art song” are discouraged.
(2) composed for single voice and single acoustic instrument (solo instruments other than piano as the collaborative instrument will be accepted).
(3) English (or English translation), either in the public domain* or for which the composer has secured appropriate permission.
(4) composed within the past 2 years (after January 1, 2023).
ENTRY FEE - $30 for professionals; $15 for full-time students each entry (payable in U.S. funds to NATS).
ENTRY DATES - June 1, 2024 through December 1, 2024.
ELIGIBILITY - Open to anyone meeting prescribed requirements.
PROCEDURE - All applications must be submitted electronically via www.nats.org. Please read the complete details posted on the NATS website. The following are required materials for entry:
(1) A PDF copy of the song score(s). Copies must be legible and should include composition title; poet’s (or poets’) name(s); public domain status or information regarding permission; length and date of composition. THE COMPOSER’S NAME MUST NOT APPEAR ANYWHERE ON THE SCORE.
(2) Digital audio file(s) of the composition(s).
(3) Recordings must be of the highest quality possible (performance or working).
(4) The title of the composition should be the only labeling on the recording(s).
A dvA ncing QuAlity voc Al liter Ature
Promoting new works For singers
1ST PLACE
$2,000 PLUS the composer’s expenses to the NATS 59th National Conference in 2026, where the performance of the winning composition will be given.
2ND PLACE
$1,000
Cash prizes generously sponsored by composer Lori Laitman
NATS reserves a non-exclusive right to sponsor performances of the winning work for two years without additional remuneration to the composer.
* For U.S. publications, a summary of works in the public domain is available on NATS.org.
(5) The song order on the recordings must match the song order of the scores. ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY DECEMBER 1, 2024