Avery Fisher's name continues to encourage classical music in future generations. Even though his name is no longer on the big concert hall at Lincoln Center, talents still look to the "Avery Fisher" Career Grant program to help young musicians get ahead.
You may not know him, but Avery Fisher was the founder for the Fisher electronics company that donated $10.5 million to renovate the Philharmonic Hall in Lincoln Center, back in 1973.
On Tuesday, the "Avery Fisher" program announced that it has offered $25,000 career grants, each, to three violinists, a pianist and a cellist. These career grants are exclusive and note-worthy as they are only being offered to young musicians and chamber groups that have the potential to evolve into major careers. According to NYTimes, the three violinists are Alexi Kenney, Tessa Lark and Sean Lee, Jay Campbell -the cellist, and George Li -the pianist. In addition, the Avery Fisher Prize will also be awarded to recognize musicians with outstanding achievements in music.
To understand why they received the grant: Alexi Kenney has won the 2014 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition, at 19 years old. Tessa Lark won the Naumburg International Violin 2012 Award. Sean Lee has a debut album that topped the iTunes charts in 2013. Jay Campbell made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in 2013 and George Li was a 2015 Silver medalist in the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition. There are more notable awards these musical talents have amassed, these are just but a few.
To commemorate the occasion, the grants are officially presented at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR's studios in New York. The event will be streamed live by WQXR. A broadcast will also be played on 105.9 FM on April 30 at 9:00 PM.
The grant keeps Mr. Fisher's name alive, and the Strad has it that, currently, 141 artists have received Avery Fisher Career Grants.
