2010 Brandon Fradd Award in Music Competition - Winners Announced by The Cintas Foundation

Online, June 3, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The Cintas Foundation announced Leyden Rodriguez Casanova as the winner for the 2010 Cintas Foundation Award in the Visual Arts and Fabian Almazan as the winner for the 2010 Brandon Fradd Award in Music Composition. The first and second runner ups in Visual Arts were Yoel Diaz Vazquez and Gabriel Martinez. Yalil Guerra was the runner up in Music Composition. Each award carries a $10,000 cash prize, which is used by the winner to further his or her creative development.

Since 1963, the Cintas Foundation has awarded more than 300 fellowships to artists of Cuban lineage who reside outside of Cuba. The only one of its kind in the nation, the program has honored top Cuban artists, many at the start of their careers, who have gone on to play an influential role in the development of their disciplines.

The 2010 jury for the Visual Arts Fellowship award included Silvia Karman Cubiñá, Director and Chief Curator of the Bass Art Museum, Miami Beach; Massimiliano Gioni, Curator and Director of Special Exhibitions at the New Museum, New York City; Ruba Katrib, Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami; Bennet Simpson, Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and Rachel Weiss, Professor at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago.

Past visual arts fellows include Gladys Triana, Cundo Bermudez, Maria Brito, Liset Castillo, Jose Chardiet, Luis Gispert, Quisqueya Henriquez, Gean Moreno, Mario Petrirena, Baruj Salinas and Lydia Rubio. A complete history and listings of the fellows may be found in the Cintas Foundation web site at www.cintasfoundation.org

The 2010 jury for the prestigious Brandon Fradd Award in Music Composition included Roger Bourland, Professor and Chair of the Music Department at University of California, Los Angeles; Richard Danielpour, Composer and Professor at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, New York City and Raul Murciano, Jr., Program Director at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami.

The award, named after Brandon Fradd managing director of Apollo Medical Partners, generously funded the endowment for the fellowship in music composition, which is now an annual fellowship.

Past music fellows include Sergio Barroso, Mario Bauza (known as the father of AfroCuban jazz), Jose Bernardo, Aldo Rafael Forte, Julian Orbon, Tania Leon and Orlando Jacinto Garcia.

"Congratulations to the winners. We wish them much success," said Hortensia E. Sampedro, president of the Cintas Foundation. "We sincerely appreciate the work of the outstanding panel of jurors for their professionalism and dedication."

The Fellowship Competition is administered by the Frost Art Museum at Florida International University and the Cintas Foundation. For more information, please visit www.cintasfoundation.org or www.frostartmuseum.org.

About The Cintas Foundation
The Cintas Foundation was established with funds from the estate of the late Oscar B. Cintas (b. Sagua La Grande, Cuba 1887 - d. La Habana, 1957), a prominent industrialist and patron of the arts. Since 1963, the Cintas Foundation has awarded more than 300 fellowships to artists of Cuban lineage who reside outside of Cuba. Past music fellows have included Sergio Barroso, Mario Bauza (known as the father of AfroCuban jazz), Jose Bernardo, Aldo Rafael Forte, Orlando Jacinto Garcia, Tania Leon and Julian Orbon, among many others.

About The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University
The Frost Art Museum opened its current 46,000-square-foot state of the art building in November, 2008. Over 40,000 people have visited The Museum in its new building since its opening in November, 2008. Admission to The Museum is always free. The Frost is an AAM accredited museum and Smithsonian affiliate and is located at 10975 SW 17thSt across from the Blue garage and adjacent to the Wertheim Performing Arts Center on the Modesto A. Maidique Campus. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday noon-5 p.m. Closed on Mondays and most legal holidays. For more information, please visit thefrost.fiu.edu or call 305-348-2890. Find The Frost Art Museum on Twitter (twitter.com/frostartmuseum) and Facebook (facebook.com).