Angelica Rose Toumbas Wins Second Annual Nashville Songwriting Scholarship
Clay Bradley, BMI Foundation Board Member and Director of the Nashville Songwriting Scholarship competition, has announced Angelica Rose Toumbas as the winner of the second annual Nashville Songwriting Scholarship. Toumbas, a New York-based singer and songwriter, is currently pursuing a degree at both Columbia University and the University of Oxford. The $5,000 scholarship was presented during a private reception at Broadcast Music, Inc.’s (BMI) Nashville offices on Monday, June 12, 2017, and featured a performance by Toumbas of her award-winning song The Feeling of Almost. Judges for this year’s competition included GRAMMY-winning artist Kacey Musgraves, award-winning songwriter and producer Marti Fredricksen, and CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing Troy Tomlinson.
“Winning BMI’s Nashville Songwriting Scholarship has been a humbling achievement,” said Toumbas. “I’m thankful to BMI for marking the proper start of my career as both a writer and performer. I have devoted my recallable life to exploring the song as a form, and it has been my most loyal source of structure and inspiration. The Feeling of Almost is particularly special to me, because it was the first song that I was able to complete in the wake of my mother’s passing. The song is a meditation on finding grace in the unresolved.”
The Nashville Songwriting Scholarship is an annual, nationwide competition open to aspiring country music songwriters. The award was established in 2015 by BMI to celebrate the company’s 75th Anniversary year, and pays homage to musical epicenter and “Songwriting Capital of the World,” Nashville, Tennessee. The scholarship is awarded for the best original song entry in any of the following genres: Americana, blues, bluegrass, contemporary Christian, country, folk, and roots.
Angelica Rose expands the boundaries of pop music, drawing on a background that encompasses classical piano, a lifelong passion for literature and a childhood split between the United States and Greece. Having released two independent albums between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, she has taken the last four years to write new music and develop her craft. In recent months, Toumbas has re-launched her artist profile and toured across Greece, Spain and Italy. She eagerly anticipates the release of her new material featuring tunes with sweeping strings, resounding piano and ambient hooks.
About the BMI Foundation
The BMI Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 to encourage the creation, performance, and study of American music. The Foundation’s programs include competitive scholarships for songwriters and composers, operating grants for nonprofit arts presenters, and support for innovative music education initiatives in schools and communities across the country. For more information about the work of the Foundation, please visit our website at www.bmifoundation.org. For exclusive news and content, follow @bmifoundation on Twitter and Instagram, and like “BMI Foundation” on Facebook at facebook.com/bmifoundation.