LUCY SHELTON
May 17, 2026 (Sunday at 3pm)
Walter W. Naumburg Foundation
100TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATORY CONCERT
Honoring the World’s Longest Running Classical Music Competition
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall

The Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, the world’s longest running classical music competition, will be celebrating its 100th Anniversary with a celebratory concert on Sunday, May 17, 2026, at 3pm at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall. 

The Brentano Quartet (1995 Chamber Music Award) will be joined by Lucy Shelton (1980 Vocal Award and 1977 Chamber Music Award with the Jubal Trio) and will present the world premiere of a work for string quartet and voice by Steven Mackey.  This work, a Naumburg commission, is being composed to honor Naumburg’s longtime Executive Director Lucy Rowan Mann who passed away in January 2022.  Lucy was known for her love as a stage performer championing more than 30 works for words and music written for her and performed with her husband Robert Mann, the legendary violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet, famed pedagogue, and Naumburg’s President from 1971 to 2018. 

The afternoon will showcase performances by its illustrious alumni that will include to date: Carol Wincenc (1978 Flute Award); Colin Carr (1981 Cello Award); Charles Neidich (1985 Clarinet Award); Anton Nel (1987 Piano Award); Leonidas Kavakos (1988 Violin Award); Awadagin Pratt (1992 Piano Award); Frank Huang (2003 Violin Award); Erin Wagner (2021 Vocal Award); Valentin Kovalev (2022 Saxophone Award); and Jack Gao (2023 Piano Award). 

The Emerson String Quartet (1978 Chamber Music Award) will be making a celebratory reunion on this historic occasion.