Americas Vocal Ensemble
Nelly Vuksic, Music Director

AMERICAS VOCAL ENSEMBLE ANNOUNCES
1999 COMPOSITION COMPETITION WINNERS

Forest Hills, NY - The Americas Vocal Ensemble, Nelly Vuksic, Music
Director, has announced the winners of its 1999 Composition Competition.
They are as follows:

   First Prize -       Damon Lee - La Exclamacion
   Second Prize -      Jonathan David  - From Tiny Acorns
   Third Prize -       Owen Goldsmith - The Tender Affliction

Honorable mention was also given to compositions by Wayland Rogers,
Lawrence Moss, Perry Townsend, Bill Ryan, Ken Langer, Paul Ayres, Paul
Davies, William Harbinson, and Paul Siskind.

The First Prize winner and other awarded compositions will be programmed
for the Americas Vocal Ensemble's 1999-2000 season of concerts at
Manhattan's Americas Society and throughout the New York area.

Entries were received from across the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom
and South America.  Music Director Nelly Vuksic commented on the special
difficulty of judging a contest with so many outstanding entries.  She
described many of the works as "very beautiful, or original, or very
witty." and noted that a number of entries deserved special mention.

The Americas Vocal Ensemble, founded by its Director Nelly Perez
Trevisan de Vuksic in 1982, performs rarely heard music from the rich
heritage of North and South America and the Caribbean (from the Colonial
period to the present).  The Ensemble, which made its debut at the
Americas Society in 1982, has performed at important venues throughout the
northeastern United States and South America, including the Inter-American
Music Festival the Organization of American States in Washington DC, New
York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Merkin Hall, Weill Recital Hall at
Carnegie Hall, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College, El Museo del
Barrio, Boston's Gardner Museum and Boston College and on tour in
Venezuela.  As Artists-In-Residence at The Americas Society, they have
presented many unique and innovative programs and have performed numerous
premieres of contemporary works.  Recently, they performed an
all-Guastavino program for The American Composers Orchestra as part of
the Sonidos de las Americas Festival.

The Americas Vocal Ensemble has been heard on National Public Radio, WQXR,
WBAI, WGBH, ABC-TV and the Voice of America.  Their recordings include
Canticas y Madrigales - the complete choral works of Colombian composer
Luis Antonio Escobar for CBS, choral works by Joelle Wallach for Opus 1 and
A Hispanic Christmas Celebration.

For more information about the Americas Vocal Ensemble, please
contact Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166, or at
[log in to unmask]  Visit the AVE on the web at www.jamesarts.com
- click on the Artists link.

Jeffrey James <[log in to unmask]>