Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), the first woman to receive the Prix de Rome of Musical Composition, died at the age of twenty four, through illness. In spite of her young age, she composed wonderful music, in a highly personal style in advance of her time. Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), after the drama of the lost of her dear young sister, never ceased playing as often as possible the music of her sister. Nadia Boulanger was a great musician, composer herself, pianist, conductor, but above all an extraordinary teacher, she drew around her generations of musicians, fascinated by her all-encompassing culture and knowledge, and by the richness of her teaching.
The Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund. : was founded in 1939 with two aims in view : to keep alive the memory and the music of the distinguished young French composer, Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), and to aid composers of exceptional talent and integrity by an annual award in her name. The Fund was established by the proceeds of a Benefit Concert in Symphony Hall (Boston), March 6, 1939, directed by Nadia Boulanger. The board of Judges included Nadia Boulanger, Walter Piston, Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky and the Advisory Council Yehudi Menuhin and Nicolas Nabokov.
The winners were :
TheFriends of Lili Boulanger Association was founded in 1965 in connexion with the "Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund." to keep alive in France the memoy of Lili Boulanger, by promoting and diffusing her work by awarding scholarships to talented young musicians of all nationalities. The head office was 18bis, avenue Victor Hugo (Boulogne) in the town house of the General Secretary, Mme Dujarric de la Rivière. The staff was composed by madame Paul Valéry, Président, Messieurs Alexandre. de Manziarly, Louis Leprince-Ringuet and René Dommange, Vice-Présidents and François Dujarric de la Rivière, tresuror. In the active committee were Igor Markevitch, Jean Françaix, Annette Dieudonné and Mme Dujarric de la Rivière. Nadia Boulanger was always there during the meetings.
The winners of the awards were :
1968 et 1969 : Didier Denis, Bruno Gillet, Pascal Rogé and Claude Prey
1970 : Jose Almeida Prado, Nicolas Zourabichvili and Bernard Henri Videau
1971 : Francis Bayer, Ton-That-Thiet and Yoshihisa Taïra
1972 : Gérard Geay, Philippe Drogoz, Félix Ibarondo and Francisco Zumaque
1973 : Emile Naoumoff, Georges Humbrecht and Jean-Louis Haguenauer
1974 : Huseyin Sermet
1975 : James Wood, Nicolas Zourabichvili, André Bon and Ewa Bukogemka
1976 : Yves-Marie Pasquet, Christopher Bochman and Christine Trieu Colleney
1977 : Rafael d'Haene, Piotr Moss, Malcom Singer and Richard Boulanger
1978 : Huseyin Sermet and Jean-Louis Florenz
The Friends of Nadia and Lili Boulanger Association : after the death of Nadia Boulanger, it became necessary to use the two first names of the sisters together. The head office was transfered to the ninth quarter of Paris, the arrondissement where the Boulanger family had always lived - particularly at the 36, rue Ballu (since 1904). Nadia Boulanger had no heir, which is why some of her closed friends have had the idea of creating the Nadia and Lili Boulanger international Foundation, today the sole heir of the two musician sisters. The main purpose is to keep alive their memory and to award, by a specially appointed jury, annual scholarships to assist young talented musicians to study music in France.
The Friends of Nadia and Lili Boulanger Association still
exists and has celebrated in 2005 it's 40th anniversary to serve music, and specially
young musicians.
It's action is to day concentrated around the Nadia and Lili Boulanger international
Vocal-Piano competition which enables to keep alive the music of the two sister
composers, and which helps young musicians due to three prices : the Singing Prize,
the Piano-accompaniment Prize and the Duet Prize.
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President, Michel Cosson
Vice-president, François Dujarric de la Rivière
General secretary, Françoise Pain
Treasuror, Dominique de Monteynard
General representative, Alexandra Laederich
Membership or renew
Active member: 20 €
Association - Organism: 35 €
Benefactor Member: 100 € and more
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