University of Iowa News Release

Jan. 6, 2005

Kottick Selected To Receive Award From American Musical Instrument Society

Edward Kottick, a musicologist and harpsichord builder who retired from the University of Iowa School of Music in 1992, has been selected as the 2006 recipient of the American Musical Instrument Society's Curt Sachs Award.

The award will be conferred in May at the joint meeting of the American Musical Instrument Society (AMIS) with its British equivalent, the Galpin Society, in May in Vermillion, S.D.

Kathryn Libin, president of the AMIS, wrote: "The Curt Sachs Award was established by the AMIS to honor those who have made important contributions toward the study of musical instruments. It is the highest award that we bestow."

"I am surprised, and humbled," Kottick said. "This award is given annually to someone who has made important contributions in the field of musical instruments, and I'm greatly honored to be counted among that august group.

Vermillion, S.D., is home to the National Music Museum on the campus of the University of South Dakota. With a collection of more than 10,000 American, European and non-Western musical instruments, the museum contains one of the world's largest collections of instruments, including more than a dozen historically important harpsichords.

Kottick taught at the UI from 1968 until his retirement in 1992. He is the author of "A History of the Harpsichord," published in 2003, and "The Harpsichord Owner's Guide," a practical guide to buying, repairing and maintaining a harpsichord, published in 1987. With George Lucktenberg, he wrote "Early Keyboard Instruments in European Museums," published in 1997.

He has also published articles on the acoustics of the harpsichord in Scientific American, the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Early Keyboard Journal and the Galpin Society Journal.

Kottick has been associated with the prominent instrument manufacturer Zuckerman Harpsichord International for more than 40 years, first as a kit builder, then as an agent, and now as the person who helps with its designs, writes its construction manuals and handles its technical support.

In addition to his work on harpsichords, Kottick is the author of "The Collegium: A Handbook" and numerous scholarly articles on Renaissance music and musical instruments. He directed the UI Collegium Musicum, an early music performance group, from 1968 to 1981. He has conducted many workshops for harpsichord owners and has served on the board of directors of the Iowa City Early Keyboard Society, the Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society and the American Musical Instrument Society.

The School of Music is part of the Division of Performing Arts in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

For information on UI arts events, visit http://www.uiowa.edu/artsiowa on the World Wide Web. You may visit the UI School of Music web site at http://www.uiowa.edu/~music/. To receive UI arts news by e-mail, contact ur-acr@uiowa.edu.

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa Arts Center Relations, 300 Plaza Centre One, Suite 351, Iowa City, IA 52242-2500.

MEDIA CONTACT: Peter Alexander, 319-384-0072, peter-alexander@uiowa.edu.