Boosey & Hawkes at Royal Wedding in Windsor

Boosey & Hawkes works feature in the Service of Prayer and Dedication at St George's Chapel in Windsor including Farewell to Stromness by the Master of the Queen's Music Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Romance for strings by Finzi, and Gretchaninoff's Creed for contralto and choir. The music, selected by the Prince of Wales and Mrs Parker Bowles, includes some of their favourite pieces, and had been performed by the Choir of St George's Windsor and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Einojuhani Rautavaara's first orchestral works under his recent contract with Boosey & Hawkes are premiered this year: Book of Visions and Manhattan Trilogy.

The orchestral suite, Book of Visions, co-commissioned by the Orchestre National de Belgique, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra, receives its premiere in Brussels on 15 April conducted by Mikko Franck. The Japanese premiere follows in Tokyo on 24 September under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy, and the first UK performance takes place in Glasgow in January 2006 conducted by St?phane Den?ve.

Autobiographical links in Manhattan Trilogy, commissioned by the Juilliard School for its centenary, are more overt and draw Rautavaara back to the start of his career. Sibelius selected the young composer for a grant to study at Tanglewood and Juilliard in 1955-56, and his impressions of New York at that time have found their way into the new orchestral work to be premiered in October at Carnegie Hall under the baton of Dennis Russell Davies.

"I had great teachers like Persichetti, Sessions and Copland, but what left the strongest imprint on me was Manhattan: its beauty, its cruelty, its changing moods. All these reflected on my youth - its hopeful daydreams, sudden nightmares of doubt and the slowly breaking dawn of a personality. Those were the three central atmospheres of my youth - possibly, probably of any composer's or artist's youth."

GMA Music Award Songwriter Of The Year Nominees Announced

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) announced the final nominees for the Dove Award for Songwriter of the Year, to be presented at the 36th Annual GMA Music Awards. The nominees are Gerald Crabb, Jonathan Foreman, Brendan Graham, Mark Hall and Rolf Lovland. The winner of the Dove Award for Songwriter of the Year will be named during the awards show on April 13 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. Tickets are available at www.gmamusicawards.com.

"The Songwriter of the Year is an important honor in gospel music. We congratulate these nominees for their songwriting success in the past year, and more significantly, for the many lives they touched with their songwriting gifts," said John W. Styll, president of the GMA.

In addition to other songs they have written, each songwriter is nominated in the Song of the Year category. Crabb, a prolific Southern Gospel songwriter and father of the Crabb Family children, wrote the nominated song, "Through the Fire." Switchfoot lead man Foreman wrote both "Dare You To Move" and "Meant To Live." Hall, of Casting Crowns, wrote "Who Am I." Graham and Lovland wrote the Selah recorded song "You Raise Me Up."

Founded in 1964, the 4,500-member Gospel Music Association is dedicated to exposing, promoting and celebrating the gospel through music. The GMA represents all styles of gospel music including contemporary pop, rock, urban gospel, praise & worship, Southern gospel, country and children's gospel music. The GMA produces the GMA Music Awards?, which recognizes achievement in all genres of gospel music and are voted on by members of the GMA.

Juanes' "La Camisa Negra" Is Again The #1 Latin Song In America, The Third Consecutive #1 Single From His Multi-Platinum Album Mi Sangre

With millions of fans around the word having embraced the music of Juanes as virtual anthems of Latino pride, prayers for peace, and reinforcement of the power of love & family, Time Magazine has named the Colombian rock poet as one of the"100 most influential people in the world today." Profiled in the new edition of the signature TIME 100 issue, the special honor finds the nine-time Latin Grammy winner joining a select list of honorees this year that includes: Presidents Bush & Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates, Viktor Yushchenko, Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, Jamie Foxx, Jon Stewart, Clint Eastwood, and fellow musicians Kanye West, Alicia Keys and Melissa Etheridge.

The TIME 100 honor is obviously well earned, as Juanes' multi-platinum album Mi Sangre continues to dominate Latin radio airplay throughout the Spanish speaking world and fans are flocking by the thousands to the concert performances of the ongoing "Mi Sangre Tour". Not only was Juanes the most played artist of 2004 on radio throughout Latin America, the album has also produced three consecutive #1 Latin songs in the United States - with latest single "La Camisa Negra" closing out the week once again as the most played song at Latin radio across America. Meanwhile, support for the "Mi Sangre Tour" is so strong that, having already sold-out numerous shows across the country at venues such as Madison Square Garden and Miami's American Airlines Arena, a fourth Los Angeles area show is now being added to the first week of May to meet fan demand.