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CARL SCHALK WILL RECEIVE
AGO DISTINGUISHED COMPOSER AWARD
NEW YORK CITY — The AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS (AGO) will present its Distinguished Composer Award to CARL SCHALK at its Annual Meeting on Saturday, July 6, 2002, during the AGO National Convention in Philadelphia, Pa. The award is presented biennially to increase awareness of outstanding composers in the United States writing for the organ and choral music fields.
CARL SCHALK—composer, author, musicologist, and teacher—has composed more than 50 hymn tunes and carols, and his choral compositions and hymn settings for congregation are widely performed. He is distinguished professor of music emeritus at Concordia University in River Forest, Ill., where he has taught since 1965. He previously served as director of music at Zion Lutheran Church in Wassau, Wis., and director of music for the International Lutheran Hour. He was editor of the journal, Church Music, from 1966 to 1980. He has served on various boards and committees for the Hymn Society, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, which prepared the Lutheran Book of Worship.
Born in Chicago, Ill., in 1929, Mr. Schalk earned a BS degree in education from Concordia College, River Forest, Ill., an MM from the Eastman School of Music, and an MA from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. He is the recipient of several honorary degrees and is a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada. Active as a lecturer and clinician at numerous church music workshops and pastoral conferences, his most recent publications include God’s Song in a New Land: Lutheran Hymnody in America and its companion, Source Documents in American Lutheran Hymnody.
The AGO DISTINGUISHED COMPOSER AWARD was first presented to Virgil Thomson in 1986. Other recipients of this award include Ned Rorem, Daniel Pinkham, Samuel Adler, Dominick Argento, William Albright, Conrad Susa, Emma Lou Diemer, Dan Locklair, William Bolcom, and Alice Parker. “The AGO is proud of its record of recognizing composers of new organ works, and new choral works,” notes Philip Hahn, President of the American Guild of Organists. “We have a long history of commissioning composers to create new music.” In 2000, the AGO was honored by the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) with a certificate of merit for its new music commissions.
The AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS is the national professional association serving the organ and choral music fields. Founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization, the AGO seeks to set and maintain high musical standards and to promote understanding and appreciation of all aspects of organ and choral music. The mission of the AGO is to promote the organ in its historic and evolving roles, to encourage excellence in the performance of organ and choral music, and to provide a forum for mutual support, inspiration, education, and certification of Guild members. The Guild currently serves more than 20,000 members in 343 local chapters throughout the United States and abroad.
This information is submitted by F. Anthony Thurman, Director of Development and Communications at the National Headquarters of the American Guild of Organists and The American Organist Magazine. For further information, please contact Dr. Thurman by TEL (212) 870-2310, FAX (212) 870-2163 or E-MAIL fathurman@agohq.org.
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