Winners: CONDUCTORS (musical theater), 2021

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts, David (Volosin) Katz, chief judge, is honored to announce the winners and runners-up of The American Prize in Conducting, 2021, in the musical theater division. Congratulations!

Complete listings of finalists and semi-finalists in The American Prize competitions may be found elsewhere on this blog. Please use the chronological tool in the right-hand column to find specific results.

Please make us aware of any misprints: theamericanprize@gmail.com

The American Prize in Conducting (musical theater division), 2021

The American Prize winner:

Ana Flavia Zuim             

New York University                         

New York            NY           

City of Angels

Ana Flavia Zuim

Ana Flavia Zuim is a multi award-winner musical director/conductor and an accomplished pianist, singing health specialist and electric bassist. She has been serving as Director of Vocal Performance at the Steinhardt School at New York University since 2016. A native of Brazil, she moved to the USA in 2003 after completing her bachelor's degree in music at State University of Londrina (UEL). She now holds a master's in piano performance (Lynn University, 2006), a doctorate - Ph.D. in Fine and Performing Arts (Florida Atlantic University, 2012) - and a Vocology certification (University of Utah, 2015).

Prior to joining the NYU faculty, Dr. Zuim served as Director of Contemporary Voice at the Frost School of Music with a secondary appointment as Lecturer of Otolaryngology at the Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami.

Interested in the intricacy of the vocal mechanism, she serves as an active researcher and is a member of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing), the Musician's Union as well as PAVA (Pan-American Vocology Association) for which she serves as Latin American Governor since 2018, being re-elected to serve a second term in 2020. Her research focuses on vocal health, singer’s perception of vocal function, dosimetry as well as vocal pedagogy and CCM (Contemporary Commercial Music) styles. She has also collaborated with the Nutrition and Food Studies Department at Steinhardt on a study of diet quality and physical activity patterns of musical theatre performers.

Among her credits are the Broadway musical Hamilton (Rehearsal Pianist - 2016 till present), the Broadway Across America tours of Billy Elliot (Associate Conductor/Vocal Coach), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Keys), Matilda (Keys), Kinky Boots (Keys), The Wizard of Oz (Keys), Annie (Keys), and The Sound of Music (Keys). She has also music directed Billy Elliot at The Ogunquit Playhouse (2014), for which she received an IRNE Award for best musical direction in 2015, and at the Maltz Jupiter Theater (2015), for which she was nominated for a Carbonell Award (2016). Ana Flavia was one of the recipients of The American Prize award for conducting Anything Goes with the NYU Broadway Orchestra (2020). 

Her doctoral dissertation, entitled “Speech Inflection in American Musical Theatre Compositions,” had the collaboration of renowned composers such as Alan Menken, Stephen Flaherty, Larry O’Keefe, Libby Larsen, and John Buccino, among others.

The American Prize 2nd Place:

Lisa LeMay            

San Diego Repertory Theatre

School for Creative and Performing Arts                         

San Diego           CA           

EVITA

Lisa LeMay

Most recently, Lisa LeMay was the Associate Conductor/Keyboard for Broadway 1^st National Tour of SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical, preceded by Assistant Conductor/Keyboard for the 1^st National Tour of A Bronx Tale.  Work on additional New York and Broadway productions include Avenue Q, Bring It On: The Musical, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and appearances at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party. Other National Tours include Brooklyn, The Musical (Associate Conductor/Keyboard), All Shook Up (Associate Conductor/Keyboard) and Disney’s The Lion King (Keyboard Sub).  Regional productions include Freaky Friday (Rehearsal Pianist, La Jolla Playhouse), Pippin, Applause, City of Angels (Associate Musical Director, Reprise Theater LA), Evita (Conductor, San Diego Rep), How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Musical Director, The Old Globe Theatre), and Sweeney Todd (Musical Director, 4^th Wall Theatre). Miss LeMay is a native of Beverly, MA an alumna of the University of Arizona, and currently resides in San Diego, CA. www.lisalemay.com

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Congratulations!

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts, David (Volosin) Katz, founder and chief judge, is the nation's most comprehensive series of contests in the musical and theater arts. The American Prize is nonprofit, unique in scope and structure, and is designed to evaluate, recognize and reward the best performers, composers, conductors, ensembles and directors in the United States, at professional, college/university, community and school levels, based on submitted recordings. There is no live competition. 

Founded in 2010 and now celebrating its eleventh year, The American Prize has awarded nearly $100,000 in prizes in all categories since its creation. Thousands of artists representing all fifty states have derived benefit from their participation in the contests of  The American Prize. 

The American Prize will accept applications for the 2021-22 contest season through September 14, 2021 or with extension request.  www.theamericanprize.org