John Wustman, the distinguished American collaborative pianist and educator, has been chosen by the Board of Directors of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation as recipient of its annual 2007 World of Song Award.
The award alternates among composers, singers, and collaborative pianists. It serves to raise public consciousness of art song and to honor those who have devoted their creative lives to this enriching form of music.
Lindsey Christiansen, a member of the Foundation’s board of directors who sponsored Wustman’s nomination, offered this comment: "The numbers of singers, pianists and audience members for whom John Wustman has ignited the love affair with German lieder is legion. My encounter with his passionate and exacting love of this repertoire changed my life forever."
Daron Hagen, president of the Lehmann Foundation, summed up the feelings of the entire board of directors: "The loyalty with which John Wustman has served this noble art have been matched by very few and the fervor of his commitment is unparalleled. In so many ways he has been a trailblazer in his field, and elevated the role of the accompanist to an equal partner with the singer. The Lehmann Foundation is thrilled to recognize him for a lifetime of song."
Daniel Gundlach, chairman of the World of Song committee, recognized Wustman’s contribution thus: "John Wustman has influenced generations of pianists and singers. His dedication to art song, in particular the works of Wolf and Schubert, has been unwavering. I am proud to be one such student whose musical life was enriched by his example and I am proud that he is being celebrated by the Lehmann Foundation for his immeasurable contribution to the world of song."
Upon finding that he was to receive the award, Wustman himself said: "With my heart full of love and gratitude I accept the World of Song award from the Lotte Lehmann Foundation. We go along very happily and content and then such a surprise as to find that I am receiving this great honor. There are good things in this life."
The citation consists of a beautifully framed document designed by noted calligrapher Denis Lund. It can be viewed on the Lehmann Foundation’s website.
Previous World of Song Awards have gone to collaborative pianists Dalton Baldwin and Graham Johnson, tenor Hugues Cuénod, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and composers Ned Rorem and Dominick Argento.
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John Wustman, who has been called the "Dean of American accompanists" studied with John Kollen at the University of Michigan and in New York with Leonard Shure. When he became affiliated with Robert Shaw his long and illustrious career took off.
Wustman’s New York years read like a veritable history of singers and singing. He was pianist for the rehearsals of the American Opera Society’s presentation of Bellini’s Il Pirata at Carnegie Hall in 1959. The performances featured Maria Callas; Wustman would later serve as a member of the jury at the Fourth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow with Mme. Callas. During this time he traveled abroad under the aegis of the Fulbright Commission and also the United States State Department teaching master classes in German Lieder in Uruguay, Peru, and Argentina. He has appeared in the leading concert halls on six continents with singers whose names are synonymous great singing in the second half of the twentieth century: singers such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Birgit Nilsson, Régine Crespin, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, Carlo Bergonzi, Luciano Pavarotti, and a host of others.
Highlights in his career included a series of televised recitals with Pavarotti, including the first recital from the Metropolitan Opera House in 1978. His recording of Mussorgsky and Rachmaninov songs with Irina Arkhipova won the Grand Prix du Disque. Other recordings include song recitals with Régine Crespin, Carlo Bergonzi, Brigitte Fassbaender and the “Live from Carnegie Hall” recital with Luciano Pavarotti.
In 1968 Wustman became Professor of Music at the University of Illinois where he founded the vocal coaching and accompanying program. His presence has been keenly felt in his recitals, often devoted to the works of one composer and master classes.
In recent times, Mr. Wustman engaged in a “labor of love”– a six-year series of recitals of the complete songs of Franz Schubert. The songs were performed in thirty-two separate programs in venues from New England to Florida, Nebraska to the Atlantic. The series of more than 350 concerts reached its culmination on January 31, 1997, the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Wustman’s students are engaged as teachers, singers, conductors and repetiteurs in colleges and universities as well as the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Munich Staatsoper and La Scala, to name a few.
John Wustman is one of a few select members of the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois, the highest award the university grants its faculty.
The award alternates among composers, singers, and collaborative pianists. It serves to raise public consciousness of art song and to honor those who have devoted their creative lives to this enriching form of music.
Lindsey Christiansen, a member of the Foundation’s board of directors who sponsored Wustman’s nomination, offered this comment: "The numbers of singers, pianists and audience members for whom John Wustman has ignited the love affair with German lieder is legion. My encounter with his passionate and exacting love of this repertoire changed my life forever."
Daron Hagen, president of the Lehmann Foundation, summed up the feelings of the entire board of directors: "The loyalty with which John Wustman has served this noble art have been matched by very few and the fervor of his commitment is unparalleled. In so many ways he has been a trailblazer in his field, and elevated the role of the accompanist to an equal partner with the singer. The Lehmann Foundation is thrilled to recognize him for a lifetime of song."
Daniel Gundlach, chairman of the World of Song committee, recognized Wustman’s contribution thus: "John Wustman has influenced generations of pianists and singers. His dedication to art song, in particular the works of Wolf and Schubert, has been unwavering. I am proud to be one such student whose musical life was enriched by his example and I am proud that he is being celebrated by the Lehmann Foundation for his immeasurable contribution to the world of song."
Upon finding that he was to receive the award, Wustman himself said: "With my heart full of love and gratitude I accept the World of Song award from the Lotte Lehmann Foundation. We go along very happily and content and then such a surprise as to find that I am receiving this great honor. There are good things in this life."
The citation consists of a beautifully framed document designed by noted calligrapher Denis Lund. It can be viewed on the Lehmann Foundation’s website.
Previous World of Song Awards have gone to collaborative pianists Dalton Baldwin and Graham Johnson, tenor Hugues Cuénod, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and composers Ned Rorem and Dominick Argento.
* * *
John Wustman, who has been called the "Dean of American accompanists" studied with John Kollen at the University of Michigan and in New York with Leonard Shure. When he became affiliated with Robert Shaw his long and illustrious career took off.
Wustman’s New York years read like a veritable history of singers and singing. He was pianist for the rehearsals of the American Opera Society’s presentation of Bellini’s Il Pirata at Carnegie Hall in 1959. The performances featured Maria Callas; Wustman would later serve as a member of the jury at the Fourth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow with Mme. Callas. During this time he traveled abroad under the aegis of the Fulbright Commission and also the United States State Department teaching master classes in German Lieder in Uruguay, Peru, and Argentina. He has appeared in the leading concert halls on six continents with singers whose names are synonymous great singing in the second half of the twentieth century: singers such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Birgit Nilsson, Régine Crespin, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, Carlo Bergonzi, Luciano Pavarotti, and a host of others.
Highlights in his career included a series of televised recitals with Pavarotti, including the first recital from the Metropolitan Opera House in 1978. His recording of Mussorgsky and Rachmaninov songs with Irina Arkhipova won the Grand Prix du Disque. Other recordings include song recitals with Régine Crespin, Carlo Bergonzi, Brigitte Fassbaender and the “Live from Carnegie Hall” recital with Luciano Pavarotti.
In 1968 Wustman became Professor of Music at the University of Illinois where he founded the vocal coaching and accompanying program. His presence has been keenly felt in his recitals, often devoted to the works of one composer and master classes.
In recent times, Mr. Wustman engaged in a “labor of love”– a six-year series of recitals of the complete songs of Franz Schubert. The songs were performed in thirty-two separate programs in venues from New England to Florida, Nebraska to the Atlantic. The series of more than 350 concerts reached its culmination on January 31, 1997, the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Wustman’s students are engaged as teachers, singers, conductors and repetiteurs in colleges and universities as well as the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Munich Staatsoper and La Scala, to name a few.
John Wustman is one of a few select members of the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois, the highest award the university grants its faculty.
