Maud Powell Society Award

The Maud Powell Society Award

The Maud Powell Society Award is our highest honor, given in recognition of devoted service to the work of The Maud Powell Society and selfless dedication to the artistic and humanitarian ideals of Maud Powell. Honorees include:

1987 Yehudi Menuhin, violinist, humanitarian, with Karen Shaffer

1988 Trudy McMurrin, for her work as editor of Maud Powell, Pioneer American Violinist

1990 Arnold Sposato, Ward Marston, Bismarck Reine, for their work on The Art of Maud Powell, the first reissue of Powell's recordings

1994 Louis and Annette Kaufman, violinist and pianist, humanitarians

1998 Joseph Heyd, O.S.B., sculptor; Donald Baker, mayor (left); William Schulte, Maud Powell Statue Committee chair - for the Maud Powell Statue in Peru, Illinois (with Karen Shaffer and Joseph Heyd) (right)

2000 Willa Jean and James Dellinger (left), educators, and Peru librarian David Green (with an assistant) (right), for their roles in bringing the Maud Powell exhibit to Peru and establishing the Maud Powell Birthday Celebration and Music Festival in Peru, Illinois .

Virginia Harpham, violinist
2008 Virginia Harpham, for her inspiration as a violinist and her support as a long-time Maud Powell Society board member.

Karen Shaffer with Joyce Dlugopolski
2009 Karen Shaffer with Joyce McFarland Dlugopolski, for her support as Maud Powell Society board member and trustee

Rachel Barton Pine and Karen Shaffer
2009, Violinist Rachel Barton Pine with Karen Shaffer, for her work as music advisor and editor of Maud Powell Favorites, her CD American Virtuosa, Tribute to Maud Powell, her advocacy of Maud Powell and her support as a Maud Powell Society Advisory Board Member

MP Society board member Chris Coughlin received the Maud Powell Society Award from MPS President Karen Shaffer in Peru, Illinois in 2011 for her work as Chair of the Peru Maud Powell Arts Celebration which continues to grow immensely under her leadership with the participation of dedicated volunteers and the music, dance and visual arts community in the Illinois Valley.

Rachel Barton Pine presented the Maud Powell Society Award to Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra Music Director Randal Swiggum and Executive Director Kathy Matthews at the EYSO's 50th anniversary opening concert in Elgin, Illinois. November 8, 2015. They have upheld Maud Powell as a superb role model for young musicians. Rachel performed the Sibelius violin concerto with the orchestra which Maud Powell premiered in America in 1906.