NYU Steinhardt School and the Songwriters Hall of Fame have announced that Jimmy Webb, chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF), will be the inaugural guest of its recently announced Master Session Series at NYU.

NYU and the Songwriters Hall Of Fame Announce Jimmy Webb to be the Inaugural Guest of New Master Session Series
Jimmy Webb

Scholarship Presentations and Musical Showcase Comprise Inaugural Program,

June 14 at 6:00 P.M.


NYU Steinhardt School and the Songwriters Hall of Fame have announced that Jimmy Webb, chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF), will be the inaugural guest of its recently announced Master Session Series at NYU.  The inaugural session will take place June 14, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. at NYU's Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th Street.  Webb, who was recently named chairman, will be interviewed by Grammy-nominated songwriter Phil Galdston, a member of NYU’s Artists’ Faculty.

The inaugural Master Session with Webb will immediately be followed by a ceremony conferring the SHOF annual scholarships—Abe Olman Scholarships for Excellence in Songwriting and the Holly Prize—and the first-ever NYU Steinhardt Songwriting Scholar Award.  The scholarship winners will then perform their songs.  The event is free and open to the public.   

Five promising young songwriters will be given the distinguished Abe Olman Scholarship for Excellence in Songwriting. The songwriters have risen to an exemplary standard and have been chosen by ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, SGA and the SHOF.   The Abe Olman Scholarship recipients are:

  Jason Kingston (SHOF)

  Nenna Yvonne (SESAC)

  Rachel Brown (ASCAP)

  Erin Christine (BMI)

  Markeisha Ensley (SGA)

Abe Olman was both a major figure in the music publishing community and a songwriter himself, in addition to being one of the founders of SHOF. The annual Abe Olman Scholarships are made possible by his family in the interest of encouraging and supporting the careers of young songwriters.

The Holly Prize is an award made possible by Songmasters and administered and juried by SHOF as a tribute to the legacy of SHOF inductee Buddy Holly. The Holly Prize recognizes and supports the “all-in-one songwriter,” an exceptionally talented and inspired young musician/singer/songwriter whose work exhibits the qualities of Holly's music. The 2011 Buddy Holly Prize winner is Kendra Morris.

The NYU Steinhardt Songwriting Scholar Award is presented to a music composition student whose work holds great potential for success in the field, and embodies the art, craft, individuality and qualities of communication of the best songwriting.  David Marenberg is the first recipient of the award.

Songs written by the winners of the Abe Olman Scholarship, Buddy Holly Prize, and the NYU Steinhardt Songwriting Scholar Award are featured on the annual compilation CD; The Best of the Songwriters Hall of Fame New Writers Showcase: Volume 9.

With a focus on the art and craft of songwriting, the Master Session Series has been created to feature one major figure from music and the music industry each session. Many of the guests will be illustrious members of SHOF, who are the most celebrated and influential songwriters of the past fifty years.

About the Songwriters Hall of Fame:

The Songwriters Hall of Fame celebrates songwriters, educates the public with regard to their achievements, and produces a spectrum of professional programs devoted to the development of new songwriting talent through workshops, showcases, and scholarships. There are fewer than 400 inductees who make up the impressive roster enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The list includes Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland, Albert Hammond, Desmond Child, Paul Williams, Hal David and Burt Bacharach, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan, Isaac Hayes and David Porter, Richard and Robert Sherman, Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Sir Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Curtis Mayfield, Jim Croce, Phil Collins, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Loretta Lynn, Jimmy Webb, Van Morrison, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, and Diane Warren and Leonard Cohen among many others.

Full biographies and a complete list of inductees are available at the Songwriters Hall of Fame's Virtual Museum at songwritershalloffame.org.

About Steinhardt Music and Performing Arts Professions:

Steinhardt’s Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions was established in 1925. Today, 1,600 students majoring in renowned music and performing arts programs are guided by 400 faculty. The degree programs—baccalaureate through doctorate—share the School’s spirit of openness and innovation that encourages the pursuit of high artistic and academic goals. This unique vision takes many forms. In 1968, the Department merged with the New York College of Music.  Since that time, Music and Performing Arts Professions has functioned as NYU's "school" of music and developed into a major research and practice center in music technology, music business, music composition, film scoring, music performance practices, performing arts therapies, and the performing arts-in-education (music, dance, and drama).

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