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New York competition honours composer of ‘Threepenny Opera’

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FLE - In this Aug. 17, 1942 file photo, theatrical composer Kurt Weill and his wife, performer Lotte Lenya, are seen at the piano at their home in New City, in the Rockland County suburb of N.Y. Two young American singers have won a musical theater competition honoring Kurt Weill, who composed "The Threepenny Opera." The Lotte Lenya (LAH\'-teh LEHN\'-yuh) Competition on Monday, April 18, 2016, announced two top winners of the weekend contest in Rochester: Jim Schubin, of Plainsboro, N.J., and Brian Vu, of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Robert Kradin, File)

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Two young American singers have won a musical theatre competition honouring Kurt Weill (vyl), who composed “The Threepenny Opera.”

The German Jewish musician fled Nazi oppression in the 1930s and settled in New York. He was married to a woman whose voice kept his art alive decades after he was gone.

The Lotte Lenya (LOH’-teh LEN-yah) Competition on Monday announced two top winners of the weekend contest in Rochester: Jim Schubin, of Plainsboro, New Jersey, and Brian Vu, of Los Angeles. Seven more prizes were awarded for a total purse of $79,000.

Judges included soprano Teresa Stratas, whom Lenya anointed as the keeper of the Weill flame and taught the subtleties of his songs.

The competition is sponsored by the Manhattan-based Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.

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This story has been corrected to show Lotte Lenya is pronounced LOH’-teh LEN-yah, not LAH’-teh LEHN’-yuh.

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