The Ditson Conductor's Award, established in 1945, is the oldest award honoring conductors for their commitment to the performance of American music. The US$5,000 purse is endowed by the Alice M. Ditson Fund at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, increased in 1999 from US$1,000. The Ditson Conductor's Award was established five years after the 30 April 1940 death of Alice M. Ditson, widow of music publisher Charles Healy Ditson and daughter-in-law of

Oliver Ditson Oliver Ditson (October 20, 1811 – December 21, 1888) was an American businessman and founder of Oliver Ditson and Company, one of the major music publishing houses of the late 19th century. Early life and career Oliver Ditson was born in Bos ...

, founder of the publishing house that bore his name. Her will bequested $400,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) to Columbia University was for "the encouragement and aide of musicians." From this was born fellowships, public hearings, publication of the work of talented musicians and the Ditson Conductor's Award.

Ditson Conductor's Award recipients

*1945

Howard Hanson Howard Harold Hanson (October 28, 1896 – February 26, 1981)''The New York Times'' – Obituaries. Harold C. Schonberg. February 28, 1981 p. 1011/ref> was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American class ...

*1946 Léon Barzin *1947 Alfred Wallenstein *1948 Dean Dixon *1949

Thor Johnson Thor Martin Johnson (June 10, 1913 – January 16, 1975) was an American conductor. He was born in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. He studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was president of the Alpha Rho chapter of P ...

*1950

Izler Solomon Izler Solomon (January 11, 1910 – December 6, 1987) was an American orchestra conductor, active mostly in the Midwest. Career Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Izler Solomon's first position as music director was from 1936 to 1941 with the Illinoi ...

*1951 Robert Whitney *1952

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...

*1953

Walter Hendl Walter Hendl (January 12, 1917April 10, 2007) was an American conductor, composer and pianist. Biography Hendl was born in West New York, New Jersey, and later went on to study with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia ...

*1954 David Broekman *1955 Robert Shaw *1956 Victor Alessandro *1957

Howard Mitchell Howard Mitchell (11 March 1911 in Lyons, Nebraska – 22 June 1988 in Ormond Beach, Florida) was an American cellist and conductor. He was principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra from 1949 to 1969. According to music cri ...

*1958 Leonard Bernstein *1959

Julius Rudel Julius Rudel (6 March 1921 – 26 June 2014) was an Austrian-born American opera and orchestra conductor. He was born in Vienna and was a student at the city's Academy of Music. He emigrated to the United States at the age of 17 in 1938 after ...

*1960 Richard Bales *1961 Richard Franko Goldman *1962 Guy Fraser Harrison *1963 Milton Katims *1964 Emerson Buckley *1965

Jacob Avshalomov Jacob Avshalomov (March 28, 1919 – April 25, 2013) was a composer and conductor. Early life and education Jacob Avshalomov was born on March 28, 1919, in Tsingtao, China. Note: Profile by David Campbell. His father was Aaron Avshalomov, the ...

*1966 William Strickland *1967

Igor Buketoff Igor Konstantin Buketoff (29 May 19157 September 2001) was an American conductor, arranger and teacher. He had a special affinity with Russian music and with Sergei Rachmaninoff in particular. He also strongly promoted British contemporary musi ...

*1968 Alan Carter *1969 Frederick Fennell *1970

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...

*1971

Maurice Abravanel Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was an American classical music conductor. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. Life Abravanel was born in Salonika, Rumelia Eyalet, Otto ...

*1972 Louis Lane *1973

Stanisław Skrowaczewski Stanislaw Pawel Stefan Jan Sebastian Skrowaczewski (; October 3, 1923 – February 21, 2017) was a Polish-American classical conductor and composer. Biography Skrowaczewski was born in Lwów, Second Polish Republic (now Lviv, Ukraine). His pa ...

*1974

Lukas Foss Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor. Career Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...

*1975

Antal Doráti Antal Doráti (, , ; 9 April 1906 – 13 November 1988) was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Antal Doráti was born in Budapest, where his father Alexander Doráti was a vi ...

*1976

José Serebrier José Serebrier (born 3 December 1938) is a Uruguayan conductor and composer. He is one of the most recorded conductors of his generation. Early life Serebrier was born in Montevideo to Russian and Polish parents of Jewish extraction. He fi ...

*1977

Eugene Ormandy Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association with ...

*1978 Gregg Smith *1979

Sergiu Comissiona Sergiu Comissiona (June 16, 1928 – March 5, 2005) was a Romanian-Israeli-American conductor and violinist. Biography Early life Born in Bucharest, Romania in a Jewish family, he began violin studies at the age of five, was hired as a violin ...

*1980 James A. Dixon *1981 Michael Charry *1982 Russell Patterson *1983 Julius Hegyi *1984

Leonard Slatkin Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His fat ...

*1985

Jorge Mester Jorge Mester (born April 10, 1935, Mexico City) is a Mexican conductor of Hungarian ancestry. He has served as the artistic director for the Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Río, Veracruz, since it was founded in 2014. Biography He studied cond ...

*1986 Efrain Guigui *1987

Dennis Russell Davies Dennis Russell Davies (born April 16, 1944 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American conductor and pianist, He is currently the music director and chief conductor of the Brno Philharmonic. Biography Davies studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard Sch ...

*1988 Lawrence Leighton Smith *1989

Gerard Schwarz Gerard Schwarz (born August 19, 1947), also known as Gerry Schwarz or Jerry Schwarz, is an American symphony conductor and trumpeter. As of 2019, Schwarz serves as the Artistic and Music Director of Palm Beach Symphony and the Director of Orche ...

*1990 Mstislav Rostropovich *1991

Christopher Keene Christopher Keene (December 21, 1946 – October 8, 1995) was an American conductor. Early life and education Keene was born in 1946 in Berkeley, California, the son of Yvonne (née Cyr) and Jim Keene. His mother was of Acadian, German, and Sco ...

*1992

Herbert Blomstedt Herbert Thorson Blomstedt (; born 11 July 1927) is a Swedish conductor. Herbert Blomstedt was born in Massachusetts. Two years after his birth, his Swedish parents moved the family back to their country of origin. He studied at the Stockholm Roy ...

*1993

Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...

*1994 Gerhard Samuel *1995

Gustav Meier Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

*1996 James Bolle *1997

David Zinman David Zinman (born July 9, 1936, in Brooklyn, NY) is an American conductor and violinist. Education After violin studies at Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota, earning his M.A. in 1963. H ...

*1998 JoAnn Falletta *1999 Christoph von Dohnányi *2000

James DePreist James Anderson DePreist (November 21, 1936 – February 8, 2013) was an American conductor. DePreist was one of the first African-American conductors on the world stage. He was the director emeritus of conducting and orchestral studies at T ...

*2001 Joel Sachs *2002 Edwin London *2003

David Alan Miller David Alan Miller (born 1961) is a multi-Grammy Award-winning American symphony orchestra conductor, and since 1992, music director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Miller served as assistant and associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharm ...

*2004 Donald Portnoy *2005 David Hoose *2006 David Robertson *2007 Gil Rose *2008

Robert Spano Robert Spano ( ; born 7 May 1961, Conneaut, Ohio) is an American conductorDavidson, Justin. "CLASSICAL MUSIC: Looking for Magic: Mixing visuals and language into a performance is just part of conductor Robert Spano's pursuit of orchestral risk" ...

*2009

James Levine James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 1 ...

*2010

Osmo Vänskä Osmo Antero Vänskä (born 28 February 1953) is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist, and composer. Biography Vänskä started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic (1971–76). He then became the principal cla ...

*2011 Alan Gilbert *2012 George Manahan *2013 Jeffrey Milarsky *2014 Harold Rosenbaum *2015 John Mauceri *2016 Cliff Colnot *2017 Marin Alsop *2018

Oliver Knussen Stuart Oliver Knussen (12 June 1952 – 8 July 2018) was a British composer and conductor. Early life Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra, and a ...

*2019 Bradley Lubman *2020 Steven Schick *2021

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...

*2022 Delta David Gier

References

{{reflist

External links

The Alice M. Ditson Fund , Conductors Award
(official winners list) American music awards Awards established in 1945 Awards and prizes of Columbia University