The 2010 Martin E. Segal Awards were presented to baritone Quinn Kelsey and dancer Daniel Ulbricht at a luncheon at Lincoln Center’s Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse on Tuesday, April 13.  Each winner received $7,500 to be used for career advancement and future study. 

 

Now in its 24^th year, the distinguished Award is given annually to two rising young artists in recognition of exceptional accomplishment.  Lincoln Center Chairman Frank A. Bennack and President Reynold Levy presided over the event.  The namesake of the Award, Martin Segal, also participated in the ceremony.

 

On a rotating basis since the launch of the prize, two of Lincoln Center’s twelve resident arts constituents have been asked to nominate an artist or ensemble associated with their organization for the Martin E. Segal Award.  This year’s winners were chosen by New York City Opera and New York City Ballet. 

 

The Martin E. Segal Awards were established by Lincoln Centers’ Board of Directors and a group of Mr. Segal’s friends and colleagues when he retired as Lincoln Center Chairman in 1986.  The Awards mark Mr. Segal’s proven history of leadership and commitment to supporting and developing the careers of up-and-coming artists. 

 

Baritone Quinn Kelsey just completed his New York City Opera (NYCO) debut to broad critical acclaim as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly.  Additional recent highlights feature his performance of the Baritone Solo in Mahler’s 8^th Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony in concerts that were recorded live on the Orchestra’s label.  The disc received a 2009 Grammy Award in three categories, including Best Classical Album.  Upcoming for Quinn is his London debut as Zurga in Bizet’s Pearl Fishers with the English National Opera, and a return to the Bregenz Festival this summer as Amonasro in Aida.

 

A native of Honolulu, Quinn began his opera career as a teen-aged member of the Hawaii Opera Theater chorus in 1991.  The experience set him on a path to acceptance by San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program and a subsequent relocation to Chicago to join the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, where he sang Ping in Puccini’s Turandot, The Forester in Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen, and Monterone in Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  It was during this time period that he was also named a finalist in the 2003 Plácido Domingo Operalia World Opera Competition, the 2005 Song Prize Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, and the recipient of a 2006 Richard Tucker Career Grant.

 

The year 2008 was marked by six separate debuts at major companies around the U.S. and abroad, including his Metropolitan Opera debut as Schaunard in La Bohème, as the Forester in Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen with the Saito Kinen Festival under Seiji Ozawa, and as Marcello in La Bohème at the San Francisco Opera.

 

Future debuts for Quinn Kelsey include those at the Canadian Opera Company and the Norwegian Opera, as well as return engagements at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

 

A principal dancer with New York City Ballet (NYCB) since 2007, Daniel Ulbricht’s future appearances include his participation in the Company’s 2010 spring festival, entitled Architecture of Dance—New Choreography and Music Festival, which begins on April 29 and features seven world premiere ballets and four commissioned scores.  His most recent NYCB performances included those in Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck) and Prodigal Son; Peter Martins’ Romeo + Juliet (Mercutio), Swan Lake (Jester), and The Sleeping Beauty (Bluebird and Jester); and Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free, all during the Ballet’s 2010 winter season. 

 

Daniel started his dance training at the age of 11 in Florida, and subsequently studied at Les Jeunes Danceurs and trained with Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux and Patricia McBride at the Chautauqua Summer Dance Program.  He began his Lincoln Center affiliation in 1999 when he was invited by the School of American Ballet (SAB)—New York City Ballet’s official school—to continue studies in the School’s winter program.  As an SAB student, he performed the Jester in Peter Martins’ The Sleeping Beauty, and shortly thereafter became an apprentice with the Company.  He soon joined New York City Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in November 2001, and two years later was named the Janice Levin Dancer honoree, an honor bestowed annually by NYCB upon one of its most promising young corps de ballet members.  Daniel was promoted to soloist in 2005, and became a principal dancer in 2007.

 

Daniel has originated a number of roles with the Company, including those in  three of Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins’ works: Friandises, Grazioso, and Romeo + Juliet; in addition to roles in Christopher Wheeldon’s Shambards and Robert La Fosse’s Land of Nod.  

Since joining New York City Ballet, Daniel has been featured in many of George Balanchine’s works, among them A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck); George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™ (Soldier, Chinese Tea, and Candy Cane); Jewels (Rubies): and The Four Seasons (Fall).  Featured roles in other ballets include Peter Martins’ Fearful Symmetries, Les Gentilhommes, Hallelujah Junction, and Harmonielehre; Lynn Taylor-Corbett’s Chiaroscuro; and Richard Tanner’s Soirée.

 In addition to appearances with NYCB, Daniel has also performed as a guest artist with several local and regional companies and is a guest teacher at ballet schools and universities nationwide.  Daniel Ulbricht is associate director of the New York State Summer School of the Arts. 

 

 

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