Information Supplied to the IRS to Obtain
Non-Profit Status

The following was provided in 1997.

Activities and Operational Information

The Lotte Lehmann Foundation has as its goal the education of the public concerning art song and the life of Lotte Lehmann; this includes her artistic and teaching achievements and the reactions thereto.

Art song (also called classical song, solo song, Lieder or mélodie) is the field of classical vocal music of compositions written for classically trained voice and piano to pre-existing poetry.

Lotte Lehmann was a world famous German soprano who lived from 1888-1976. Lehmann moved to the US in 1938 and became an American citizen. After her singing career ended she continued to write books, give master-classes and helped found the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. She taught there and privately until her death. Her influence in the world of opera, art song and education was enormous.

The Lotte Lehmann Foundation has prepared an educational Web Site which presents background information, a discography, photos, and sound excerpts of the classical singing of Lotte Lehmann. The Lotte Lehmann Web Site will allow a great number of people access to information about this important singer. No fees will be collected for this service. The broader goal of general appreciation for, and promotion of, the classical arts in general and art song in particular will be enhanced by this effort. Both students and the general public will find in-depth information.

It is anticipated that the Lotte Lehmann Web Site will be up and available by the Spring of 1999. After that there will be ongoing work to add sound hyperlinks, a computer friendly discography, cross-referenced hyperlinks to other archival sites and other material which would broaden the scope and depth of the information. There will be no cost to the public. Nothing will be offered for sale on the WWW site. When necessary, mail and public notices announcing the web site may be used.

The Lotte Lehmann Foundation will also produce “Great Songs”, an educational radio program of classical art song created for Hawai’i Public Radio (HPR), a tax exempt 501(c) (3) organization. The “Great Songs” program, which began in 1988, brings to the state-wide public, on a regular weekly basis, a radio program dedicated to the understanding of art song. Thus, the awareness of, and appreciation for, classical vocal music is enhanced. The only costs are for purchase of Compact Discs (CDs). The research, production and reading services are all donated services and Hawai’i Public Radio charges the Lotte Lehmann Foundation nothing.

The Lotte Lehmann Foundation will also produce the “Art Song Contest”, which affords amateur and professional classical singers of the state of Hawai’i the opportunity to be acknowledged for their excellence. The contest educates a large audience and raises the broader public’s awareness of the realm of art song. The public education in the neglected area of classical song is enhanced by both radio broadcasts related to the contest and the spoken introductions of the songs provided at the “live” recitals. The actual activities are as follows: classical vocalists from Hawai’i are invited to send HPR their tape recordings of their art song singing. Singers not able to tape themselves are recorded free of charge at HPR (and HPR has charged nothing). The Lotte Lehmannn Foundation judges these tapes and semi-finalists are chosen. The semi-finalists’ tapes are broadcast on HPR’s “Great Songs”. Then the Lotte Lehmann Foundation selects another panel of judges and finalists are chosen. These finalists share a recital at HPR (or another appropriate venue). Judges volunteer their time and there have been no costs for engineers, administration or Master of Ceremonies. The taped recital of the finalists is broadcast on “Great Songs”. All this occurred from 1997 to the present. The Fifth Annual Art Song Contest is scheduled for the Spring of 2001.

501(c) (3) Granted

The Lotte Lehmann Foundation has received a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the US Department of the Treasury stating: "...we have determinded you are exempt from federal income tax under section 501 (a) of the Internal Revenue Code as an organization described in section 501 (c) (3)."