Pinchas Zukerman to receive Isaac Stern Award at the National Arts Awards in New York City on October 7
October 03, 2002 -
Ottawa, Canada -- Pinchas Zukerman, world-renowned violinist,
violist, conductor, and Music Director of the National Arts Centre
Orchestra, will become the first recipient of the Isaac Stern Award
for Excellence in Classical Music at the 7th annual
National Arts Awards presented by Americans for the Arts on Monday,
October 7 in New York City. The gala ceremony, parts of which will
air later on Bravo-The Film and Arts Network, launches National Arts
and Humanities Month in the USA. These annual awards recognize those
artists and arts supporters who exhibit exemplary national leadership
and whose work demonstrates extraordinary artistic achievement.
The other recipients this year are: film star Natalie Portman
(Young Artist Award), philanthropist David Rockefeller (Frederick R.
Weisman Award for Philanthropy), contemporary photographer Cindy
Sherman (Artistic Excellence), philanthropist Alberto Vilar
(Corporate Citizenship in the Arts), Bravo-The Film and Arts Network
(Special Recognition for Excellence in Arts and Media), and the
Institute of Museum and Library Services (Special Recognition for 25
Years of Service).
The National Arts Awards have been presented by Americans for the
Arts since 1996. Past honorees include: Brooke Astor, Alec Baldwin,
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Frank Gehry, Agnes Gund, Gerald M. Levin,
Wynton Marsalis, Peter Martins, Midori, Christopher Reeve, Jason
Robards, Beverly Sills, Isaac Stern, Uma Thurman, and Sanford I.
Weill.
Leadership for the National Arts Awards celebration is provided by
New York State First Lady Libby Pataki as Honorary Chairman and Mrs.
Randolph Hearst as Chairman. Co-Chairmen are: Barry Diller, Maurice
R. Greenberg, Agnes Gund, and Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder.
Segments of the awards ceremony will be recorded and incorporated
into a 30-minute documentary on arts leadership in America, which
will air on Bravo on January 19, 2003.
Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for
advancing the arts in America. With offices in Washington, DC, and
New York City, Americans for the Arts has a 40-year record of
objective arts industry research. It is dedicated to representing and
serving local communities and creating opportunities for every
American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. For
more information, visit www.AmericansForTheArts.org.
About the National Arts Award Recipients:
PINCHAS ZUKERMAN
A violinist, a violist, a chamber musician, and a conductor,
Pinchas Zukerman is Music Director of the National Arts Centre
Orchestra of Canada and regularly guest conducts and performs with
major symphonies throughout the world. His recordings have earned him
21 Grammy nominations and 2 Grammy Awards. As a teacher he has
pioneered the use of distance-learning technology in the arts by
instructing his students at the Manhattan School of Music via a
videoconferencing system while fulfilling the travel demands of his
concert engagements.
NATALIE PORTMAN
Natalie Portman has become one of Hollywood's most talented
and sought after young actors, and has achieved worldwide recognition
for her work as Queen Amidala in the first and second episodes of
George Lucas's Star Wars saga, with the third episode yet
to come. In addition to her film work, she has received great acclaim
starring in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank
in 1997, and last year's Shakespeare in the Park production of
Chekhov's The Seagull opposite Meryl Streep and Kevin
Kline, and directed by Mike Nichols.
DAVID ROCKEFELLER
Among his many lifelong contributions to the arts, David
Rockefeller is being honoured for his longstanding leadership of the
Museum of Modern Art in New York City and for establishing the first
corporate art collection at the Chase Manhattan Bank, which has
benefited thousands of artists and his company's workers and
customers worldwide. In 1967, he also founded the Business Committee
for the Arts, a national nonprofit organization that provides
programs and services to help businesses and arts organizations
collaborate to enhance the quality of life in their communities.
CINDY SHERMAN
Cindy Sherman is acknowledged as one of the first artists to
catapult the art of photography to the forefront of the contemporary
art scene. Her now legendary Untitled Film Stills became some
of the most highly sought-after objects in the field of photographic
art, and in 1996 the Museum of Modern Art purchased the only complete
collection of 69 stills. Major retrospectives of her work have been
shown at the Whitney Museum in New York and the Museum of
Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and in 1999, she was declared one of
the 25 most influential artists of the 20th century by
ARTnews magazine.
ALBERTO VILAR
Alberto Vilar has become one of the world's foremost patrons of
the classical performing arts. Beyond his significant contributions
to companies like the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in
London, the Salzburg Festival in Austria, and the Kirov Opera and
Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia, he is equally committed to
supporting the next generation's artists and arts leadership
through his establishment and sponsorship of such programs as the
Alberto Vilar Operalia Worldwide Competition for Young Singers hosted
by Placido Domingo and the Vilar Institute for Arts Management at The
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He was recently the
keynote speaker at the National Arts Centre's Round Table on
Philanthropy in the Performing Arts.
BRAVO, THE FILM AND ARTS NETWORK
Bravo, The Film and Arts Network, is now seen in 67 million
households and its original programming like Inside the Actors
Studio helps make the arts accessible to many Americans via a
"behind-the-scenes" look at the artistic process. Bravo's
commitment to arts education is illustrated by its "Bravo, On With
the Show" initiative designed to raise awareness about the positive
impact theatre participation can have on young people, and its "Bravo
in the Classroom" combination of arts programming and resource
materials provided free to schools through their local cable
companies.
THE INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES
The Institute of Museum and Library Services was established
twenty-five years ago when the U.S. Congress determined that federal
support of the nation's libraries and museums would contribute
to the common good. The Institute champions the role libraries and
museums play in America's community life by educating and
informing its citizens.
