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Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) maintains a full schedule of commissions and her music is known for its technical skill and audience appeal. Hailed by The Washington Post as "a savvy, sensitive composer with a keen ear, an innate sense of form and a generous dash of pure esprit," she is one of America's most frequently performed composers. |
Higdon's list of commissioners is extensive and includes The Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Oregon Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, pianist Gary Graffman, Tokyo String Quartet, and eighth blackbird. For the 2007-08 season, The Philadelphia Orchestra featured two commissioned concerts from Higdon during its American Music Festival. One of the commissioned works, The Singing Rooms, is scored for orchestra, solo violin (Jennifer Koh), and chorus; the other work, entitled Concerto 4-3, was written for the bluegrass trio Time for Three and orchestra. For the 2008-09 season, Higdon has written a violin concerto for Hilary Hahn to be premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Curtis Institute Symphony Orchestra.Higdon has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts & Letters (two awards), the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Meet-the-Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and ASCAP. In addition, she has received grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Higdon has been a Featured Composer at festivals including Tanglewood, Vail, Norfolk, Winnipeg, and Cabrillo. She has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (2005-06 season), the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra (2006-07 season), and the Philadelphia Orchestra (2007-08 season). In 2007-08, Higdon was honored to be the Composer-in-Residence at the Mannes College The New School for Music.
Higdon enjoys more than two hundred performances a year of her works. Her orchestral work blue cathedral is one of the most performed contemporary orchestral works in the United States, having been programmed by more than 150 orchestras since its premiere in 2000.
Higdon's other works have also been performed extensively in the United States and abroad, including performances at the White House, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and by orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Cincinnati Symphony.
In spring of 2003, Telarc released blue cathedral by the Atlanta Symphony (Robert Spano, conducting) on a disc that made the Classical Billboard charts. In 2004, the Atlanta Symphony released the recording Higdon: Concerto for Orchestra / City Scape, which won a GrammyTM award in 2005. In fall of 2006, NAXOS released a CD of Higdon's chamber works and Cedille released eighth blackbird's Strange Imaginary Animals, which includes Higdon's work Zaka. The latter won a GrammyTM award in 2008.
Higdon is currently on the composition faculty of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she holds the Milton L. Rock Chair in Compositional Studies.
For a selected list of Jennifer Higdon's awards, commissions, and recognitions, click HERE.
Short Biography Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) is the most performed living American composer working today. She is the recipient of awards, including a Pew Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and two awards from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. The Telarc release of Higdon: Concerto for Orchestra / City Scape won a GrammyTM award in 2005. Her work blue cathedral is one of the most-performed orchestral works by a living composer (150 orchestras have performed the work since its 2000 premiere). Some of her recent commissions include works for The Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Chicago Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, eighth blackbird, Tokyo String Quartet, and Ying Quartet. Upcoming projects include a new violin concerto for Hilary Hahn. A solo disc of her chamber music was recently released by Naxos. She is on the composition faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she holds the Milton L. Rock Chair in Compositional Studies.