Glenn Korff School of Music Associate Professor of Voice Jamie Reimer Seaman earned a Special Judges’ Citation from The American Prize for “Championing the Music of Robert Owens.”
The American Prize is the nation’s most comprehensive series of contests in the classical arts. It is designed to evaluate, recognize and reward the best performers, ensembles, composers and administrators in the U.S. based on submitted recordings. The American Prize has been recognizing and rewarding American excellence in the performing arts since 2010.
“It is a tremendous honor to have received recognition for my work from a prestigious competition such as The American Prize,” Reimer Seaman said. “The judging panel included some of America’s most notable performers such as mezzo soprano Susanne Mentzer and dramatic soprano Sharon Sweet. The opportunity to have my performance of Owens’ music heard and recognized with this citation means that I have truly accomplished my artistic mission—to make his music better known in the world.”
Her interest in contemporary American art song focuses on the life and work of composer Robert Owens. In 2012, she gave the world premiere of Owens’ 4 Sonnets to Eleonora Duse, composed for her voice, and performed the role of Ursula in the North American premiere of his opera Culture! Culture! in 2015. Her CD, The Last Songs of Robert Owens, was recently released by Centaur Records (https://go.unl.edu/348o).
Owens was born in the U.S. in 1925 and grew up in California. After serving in the military, he continued his musical studies in Paris at L’Ecole Normale de Musique under renowned pianist Alfred Cortot. After teaching in the U.S. for two years, he returned to Europe to live and work in Germany, where he was a composer, pianist and stage actor. He died on Jan. 5, 2017.
Reimer Seaman has been researching and performing Owens’ works since 2007.
“I’m grateful to the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and Glenn Korff School of Music for their support of my research and performance of Robert Owens’ music,” Reimer Seaman said.
Reimer Seaman knows she has been fortunate to study the music of Owens over this past decade to give her insights into the music he composed.
“As a singer, my role is to bring to life the ink on the page,” Reimer Seaman said. “It’s such a fascinating partnership to be able to do that with a living composer because you can ask questions. I feel so fortunate to have worked with Robert, and now to be able to transfer that knowledge to my students and to other performers and scholars. I’m so thrilled to see that.”