Concert Artists Guild is an internationally recognized arts service organization. Its mission is to discover, nurture and promote young musicians. Beginning in 1951 and for many years following, the service CAG offered artists was a New York debut. This debut was the primary stepping-stone to a major career, establishing relationships with concert presenters and conductors and opening the door to commercial management. CAGs annual international competition identified gifted artists, and the winners were presented on CAGs New York concert series. By the mid-1980s, the number of concert presenters, the variety of performance venues and the number of musicians seeking careers in performance had grown dramatically. Ever innovative, CAG expanded its management services to winners of the annual competition. Management services include the booking of recital, chamber, and orchestral engagements, marketing and publicity support and recording and commissioning opportunities. CAG artists have been heard with major orchestras including the St. Louis, National, Utah and Alabama Symphonies and Orchestra X, the Chamber Music Societies of Lincoln Center, La Jolla and Pittsburgh, festivals including Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood and Music Mountain and for university and community presenters including the Krannert Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Chautauqua Institution, Market Square Concerts, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Music Toronto. Over 500 instrumentalists, singers and chamber ensembles have received career services from CAG. This list includes clarinetists David Krakauer and David Shifrin, flutists Marina Piccinini and Carol Wincenc, violinists Eugene Drucker and Judith Ingolfsson, pianist Barry Douglas, guitarist Manuel Barrueco, singers Martina Arroyo, Evelyn Lear and Shirley Verrett, the Alexander and Miami String Quartets, the Katona Twins Guitar Duo and the contemporary ensemble eighth blackbird. Tributes to Concert Artists Guild when one thinks about the changes in American society that have taken place in recent decades and that have affected the quality and scope of support given to the education and training of our young vis- -vis the arts, one cannot fail to recognize the increasing importance of organizations such as Concert Artists Guild. But what sets CAG apart from the pack is its drive and capacity to renew itself within the context of this shifting landscape, to sustain its relevance, and to encourage and inspire young artists not only to remain dedicated to their art form, but to probe the relationships of that art form to the society in which it is experienced. Long live CAG! In its competition and artist management, Concert Artists Guild performs the music fields most important work: the uncovering of talent, the nurturing of young careers, and the encouragement of new music. For Market Square Concerts, CAG has proven a wonderful resource for superb young artists. CAG winners come to us with not only the indisputable badge of the distinguished competition but with well-developed promotional materials so necessary to burgeoning careers. Added to this is the significant ingredient of the commissioning opportunities CAG offers its artists. Congratulations to CAG on fifty-plus years of fine work! Richard Goode pianist Andreas Haefliger pianist David Krakauer clarinetist * David Lang composer Tania Le n composer David Shifrin clarinetist * Andr Watts pianist Eugenia Zukerman flutist