Providence, RI --Dr. Catherine E. Gordon-Seifert, associate professor of music at Providence College, who is both a musicologist and a harpsichordist, was presented with this year's Noah Greenberg Award at the American Musicological Society's national conference held recently in Washington, D.C.

Presented annually, the Noah Greenberg Award was established in the late 1960s by the trustees of the New York Pro Musica Antiqua in memory of their founder and first director, Noah Greenberg, a pioneer in the field of early music performance. The $2,000 cash award is intended for use as a grant-in-aid to stimulate active cooperation between scholars and performers by recognizing and fostering outstanding contributions to historical performing practices.

A member of the Providence College faculty since 1996, Gordon-Seifert was honored for her project "The Lyric Art of Bénigne de Bacilly: From Drinking Songs to Spiritual Airs." The projects consists of an audio CD and informational booklet featuring Gordon-Seifert playing harpsichord and organ, Swedish-born soprano Elisabeth Belgrano, and lutenist/ theorbist/ guitarist Stephen Stubbs.

The CD is a commercial recording of serious airs, drinking songs, dance airs, and spiritual airs by Bénigne de Bacilly, a prolific composer of the 17th century. Gordon-Seifert noted that, unlike his contemporaries, Bacilly's works "have never been recorded." The accompanying booklet that was written by Gordon-Seifert will contain specific instructions on Baroque performance practices related to the airs recorded on the CD.

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