Madison Area Music Awards Celebrate in Style This Sunday
10th Anniversary for Local Nonprofit
You can Donate to the MAMAs Here
The Madison Area Music Association, or the MAMAs as they are known, will celebrate ten years of presenting the Madison Area Music Awards (also known as the MAMAs). The event takes place at the Capitol Theater in the Overture Center this Sunday, June 23. Festivities kick off at 6pm with the Red Carpet celebration where you can mingle with many of Madison’s best-loved musicians, both old and new and from classical to punk. It’s an hour of frolic that leads into one of Madison’s most unique and grassroots projects.
The MAMAs honor musical works over the prior year as well as presenting awards in other categories such as performers, instrumentalists, vocalists and non-musician awards for best local music venue, record store, recording studio and more.
To highlight the organization’s mission of providing musical instruments for kids and funding youth music programs in the greater Madison area, there are several recognitions that involve those very youths. There are awards for youth performers, vocalists, instrumentalists and recordings. The Launchpad Wisconsin Madison regional finalists are recognized as well as recipients of the 1st Chair, a program the MAMAs started with WISC-TV to honor outstanding music students. 1st Chair is modeled after the popular Top-Notch Teachers program and is sponsored by Heid Music. Additionally, a Student of the Year and a Teacher of the Year will be recognized.
This year UW Band Director Michael Leckrone will join esteemed company as the recipient of the Michael St. John Lifetime Achievement Award. That gallery includes Clyde Stubblefield, Jan Wheaton, Ben Sidran, Jonathan Little, Richard Davis, Marvin Rabin, Jim Fleming, Pro Arte Quartet and Doc DeHaven. A new award will honor a chosen songwriter for an established career crafting songs.
And if all that isn’t enough there will be several musical performers that cross many genres. Musical guests include: Mitch Henck, youth rock band the Daze, the 18-piece Zappa-meets-Pink-Floyd music of Kicksville, folk artist Anna Vogelzang, rap, sould and R&B from Tefman and Anthony Lamarr, UW youth orchestra founder and conductor and violist Mikko Utevsky, the 16-piece all-female big band group Ladies Must Swing, a special performance of Dracula: a Rock Ballet from composer Mike Massey and the Malian world music of Tani Diakite and the Afrofunkstars.
The MAMAs is the premiere music event in the city of Madison. It’s a show that everyone needs to experience at least once in their lifetime. You’ll come away with a new appreciation of the depth, variety and abundance of music that exists in the city.
Tickets for the MAMAs are available at the Overture Box Office and online at www.overcenter.com. The cost is a mere $15 with a discount to $10 for students and teachers.
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