Two music pioneers who have excelled in their respective genres — R&B and pop icon Valerie Simpson and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner — will be recognized at the 2018 ASCAP Foundation Honors on December 12 in New York City. Simpson will receive the distingui She is well-deserved to be the next recipient of The ASCAP Foundation Masters Award. “Simpson has served on The ASCAP Foundation board for 21 years, and establi
Wagner is a celebrated composer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1999 for her Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion. Her works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Recent performances have included the American Composers Orchestra, the United States Marine Band, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
Wagner has been recognized with a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and ASCAP. She currently serves as the chair of composition on the faculty of The Juilliard School of Music and gives master classes, often at many esteemed institutions including Harvard, Yale, Eastman, Juilliard, and UC Davis. Melinda Wagner was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2017.
The ASCAP Foundation George M. Cohan Friars Foundation Award honors the work of a multi-talented person connected to the music industry who has led a multi-faceted career and achieved success in a variety of roles including but not limited to composing performing, writing, directing and producing. The award was establi
