Usdan Center Receives Grant From The
Linda And Isaac Stern Charitable Foundation To Establish 2012 Isaac Stern String Scholarship
A scholarship in the name of Isaac Stern, the violinist, educator, humanitarian, and savior of Carnegie Hall, will soon be presented to a violin student at Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. The scholarship has been funded by a generous grant from the Linda and Isaac Stern Charitable Foundation. Usdan’s faculty will hold auditions throughout the spring in order to identify the winning student.
Virtuoso violinist Isaac Stern was one of the twentieth century’s most renowned, beloved, and recorded musicians, as well as the teacher and mentor to many of today’s leading performers. Mr. Stern made his recital debut at the age of fifteen, and by the age of twenty-two he had performed at Carnegie Hall, the institution that he later saved and then served as President for thirty years. From the late 1940’s until his death in 2001, Isaac Stern toured on every continent, performing 200 concerts each year. Whether in personal interactions with students and friends, or in his role as an international cultural ambassador, Isaac Stern received scores of awards and honors around the world. Dale Lewis, Executive Director of the Usdan Center, together with the Center’s Board of Trustees, recently announced the new scholarship: “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to award a scholarship in the name of Isaac Stern, and we are indebted to the Foundation’s Trustees, who have made it possible for one of our students to have a transformative summer of study in his honor. What a privilege it is to be entrusted with a scholarship in the name of this legendary artist. We look forward to announcing its winner this spring.”
Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts has introduced the arts to more than 70,000 children since its founding in 1968. The Center is open to all young people who are interested in the arts, from age 6 to 19. Alumni have performed with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and many other major orchestras and ensembles. Alumni have won Grammy Awards for classical music producing, have achieved fame in jazz (Jane Monheit), and on Broadway, Television, and Film. (Actors Natalie Portman, Olivia Thirlby, and Lisa Gay Hamilton; Sirius radio host Seth Rudetsky; Playwright Michele Lowe).
Usdan’s curriculum includes more than 40 programs in music, art, dance, theater, writing, nature & ecology, and chess. Admission is based on an expression of interest in the arts, and one third of Usdan students attend on scholarship. During the Center’s summer season, 1,600 young people travel to its 100-acre Long Island campus on buses that serve most towns in the New York metropolitan area. Although Usdan’s mission is for every child to establish a lifetime relationship with the arts, the unique inspiration of the Center has caused many to go on to careers in the arts. Usdan alumni regularly appear with major orchestras such as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic, in Broadway shows, and in major dance companies such as New York City Ballet, and American Ballet Theater. The Center’s daily concerts have presented such visiting artists as the Tokyo String Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, André Watts, Canadian Brass, James Galway, and hundreds of others. Usdan also offers special opportunities for advanced high school- age performing and visual artists. These include Music Staff Internships, a Summer Ballet Intensive, and a program of immersion in the visual arts and college preparation for selected high school age a students. Further information is available on the Center’s website, www.usdan.com. Usdan Center is an agency of the UJA-Federation of New York.#
