Gerald Ginsburg Repertoire Prize
The Gerald Ginsburg Repertoire Prize, in honor of composer Gerald Ginsburg, will award $1,000 to a student in the Post High School Classical categories who performs at least one of Ginsburg’s compositions in the YouTube, semifinal or final rounds in the NATS National Student Auditions. The award is made possible through a $25,000 contribution from the Ginsburg Foundation to endow the prize, ensuring its continuation for years to come.
An art song composed by Ginsberg fulfills the English Language Art Song requirement and/or fulfills the fourth additional selection requirement in the Upper NSA categories.
NATS members may access the Ginsberg’s scores in both PDF and Sibelius formats.
About Gerald M. Ginsburg (1932–2019)
Gerald M. Ginsburg (1932-2019) was a prolific composer who set hundreds of poems to music in his 50 years of artistic output. He was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on July 7, 1932. He earned a bachelor’s degree in composition from Oberlin and a master’s degree in composition the Manhattan School of Music. He studied piano with Rudolph Ganz, Jack Radunsky, Dora Zaslavsky, and composition with Roy Harris and Ludmilla Ulehla. His compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the New School, and the Kennedy Center, among many other venues.
Ginsburg’s signature contribution was a style of song he called “Theater Lieder,” which brought together the lyrical elements of musical theatre and classical art song structure. Following his debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1974, his career highlights included a premiere of song settings based on the work of Willa Cather at the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Spring Conference (Nebraska, 1979); original song settings of Paul Verlaine's poetry (Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 1998); An American à Paris (Merkin Concert Hall, 2000); a Heinrich Heine Tribute entitled Aus Schmerzen zu Lieder-From Sorrows to Songs (Weill Recital Hall, 2003), and many programs of original music with the composer at the piano at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Chelsea, NYC. In 2017, to mark his 85th birthday, Ginsburg’s life and music was celebrated in a concert The Music of Words, presented by Sounds of the City in Manhattan. An endlessly curious and evolving artist, Ginsburg’s primary aim was to celebrate the beauty of the world and bring enjoyment to his audiences.
Ginsburg passed away in New York City on April 12, 2019. In his final years, he envisioned The Herman, Rebecca, and Gerald Ginsburg Foundation (named after his parents) as a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to promoting and disseminating the music to which he dedicated his life. An album of newly orchestrated songs was released on the PS Classics label in 2024 with the title Parting Gift: The Songs of Gerald Ginsburg.
For more information about the Herman, Rebecca, and Gerald Ginsburg Foundation, please visit ginsburgfoundation.org.
Ginsburg Repertoire Database
This repertoire database offers 50 songs from Ginsburg's body of work, which includes around 150 songs in total. Additional songs will be added as they are engraved by the foundation until NATS houses the full collection. The Sibelius file format allows for easy transposition as needed. Performers can download the Sibelius score and use the program to transpose for their performance.
*If you use the music in a concert, please send a courtesy note to the Ginsburg Foundation using their contact form.*
NATS thanks the Ginsburg Foundation for their generous gift to endow the Gerald Ginsburg Repertoire Prize, as well as for providing permission to freely access his compositions. If you would like to make a voluntary donation to the Gerald Ginsburg Foundation, please contact the Foundation through their website.
