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, 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, founder of the publishing house that bore his name. Her will bequested $400,000 (equivalent to $8.4 million in 2022) to Columbia University was for "the encouragement and aide of musicians."[1][2] From this was born fellowships, public hearings, publication of the work of talented musicians and the Ditson Conductor's Award.[2]
Ditson Conductor's Award recipients
- 1945 Howard Hanson
 - 1946 Léon Barzin
 - 1947 Alfred Wallenstein
 - 1948 Dean Dixon
 - 1949 Thor Johnson
 - 1950 Izler Solomon
 - 1951 Robert Whitney
 - 1952 Leopold Stokowski
 - 1953 Walter Hendl
 - 1954 David Broekman
 - 1955 Robert Shaw
 - 1956 Victor Alessandro
 - 1957 Howard Mitchell
 - 1958 Leonard Bernstein
 - 1959 Julius Rudel
 - 1960 Richard Bales
 - 1961 Richard Franko Goldman
 - 1962 Guy Fraser Harrison
 - 1963 Milton Katims
 - 1964 Emerson Buckley
 - 1965 Jacob Avshalomov
 - 1966 William Strickland
 - 1967 Igor Buketoff
 - 1968 Alan Carter
 - 1969 Frederick Fennell
 - 1970 Gunther Schuller
 - 1971 Maurice Abravanel
 - 1972 Louis Lane
 - 1973 Stanisław Skrowaczewski
 - 1974 Lukas Foss
 - 1975 Antal Doráti
 - 1976 José Serebrier
 - 1977 Eugene Ormandy
 - 1978 Gregg Smith
 - 1979 Sergiu Comissiona
 - 1980 James A. Dixon
 - 1981 Michael Charry
 - 1982 Russell Patterson
 - 1983 Julius Hegyi
 - 1984 Leonard Slatkin
 - 1985 Jorge Mester
 - 1986 Efrain Guigui
 - 1987 Dennis Russell Davies
 - 1988 Lawrence Leighton Smith
 - 1989 Gerard Schwarz
 - 1990 Mstislav Rostropovich
 - 1991 Christopher Keene
 - 1992 Herbert Blomstedt
 - 1993 Michael Tilson Thomas
 - 1994 Gerhard Samuel
 - 1995 Gustav Meier
 - 1996 James Bolle
 - 1997 David Zinman
 - 1998 JoAnn Falletta
 - 1999 Christoph von Dohnányi
 - 2000 James DePreist
 - 2001 Joel Sachs
 - 2002 Edwin London
 - 2003 David Alan Miller
 - 2004 Donald Portnoy
 - 2005 David Hoose
 - 2006 David Robertson
 - 2007 Gil Rose
 - 2008 Robert Spano
 - 2009 James Levine
 - 2010 Osmo Vänskä
 - 2011 Alan Gilbert
 - 2012 George Manahan
 - 2013 Jeffrey Milarsky
 - 2014 Harold Rosenbaum
 - 2015 John Mauceri
 - 2016 Cliff Colnot
 - 2017 Marin Alsop
 - 2018 Oliver Knussen
 - 2019 Bradley Lubman
 - 2020 Steven Schick
 - 2021 John Adams
 - 2022 Delta David Gier
 
- 2023 James Baker
 
References
- ↑ "Columbia Receives Trust to Aid Music". The New York Times. 1940-05-16. p. 31. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
 - 1 2 "About the Fund". The Alice M. Ditson Fund. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
 
External links
- The Alice M. Ditson Fund | Conductors Award (official winners list)