 |
Jennifer Higdon is active as a freelance composer. The list of commissioners
for whom she has written and is scheduled to write is extensive:
The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony, TheAtlanta Symphony,
The National Symphony, The Minnesota Orchestra, The Brooklyn Philharmonic,
The Pittsburgh Symphony, The Baltimore Symphony, The Oregon Symphony,
the American Composers Orchestra, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra,
St. Lukes' Chamber Ensemble, pianist Gary Graffman and the Lark
String Quartet, The American Guild of Organists, the Tokyo String
Quartet, the Cypress String Quartet, the Ying Quartet, eighth blackbird,
the Gilmore Piano Festival, the Philadelphia Singers and flutist
Carol Wincenc.
Higdon has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the
American Academy of Arts & Letters (two awards), the Pew Fellowship
in the Arts, Ithaca College's Hecksher Prize, Composers Inc. (the
Lee Ettelson Prize), the University of Delaware New Music Competition,
the Louisville Orchestra New Music Search, the Cincinnati Symphony's
Young Composer's Competition, NACUSA and ASCAP. In addition she
has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet-the-Composer,
Mary Flagler Charitable Trust and the Pennsylvania Council on the
Arts. She has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Music From
Angel Fire Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Walden
School, the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, the Philadelphia
Singers and the Prism Saxophone Quartet. Her work, Shine,
was named Best Contemporary Piece of1996 by USA Today in
their year-end classical picks. Last summer she was the first woman
to be named a featured composer at the Tanglewood Contemporary Music
Festival. During the same summer she was also composer-in-residence
at the Vail Festival and at Bard's Conductors' Institute.
Higdon's works have been performed extensively around the United
States, including performances at the White House,Weill Hall, Merkin
Hall, Alice Tully, Carnegie Hall and by such performers as Hilary
Hahn, Carol Wincenc, Jeffrey Khaner, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Gary Graffman,
the Cassatt String Quartet, the Miami String Quartet, the Lark Quartet,
The Pacifica String Quartet, The Ying Quartet, The Prism Sax Quartet,
Synchronia, Earplay, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra,
The Dallas Symphony, the American Composers Orchestra, The Atlanta
Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the
Milwaukee Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Virginia Symphony,
the Baltimore Symphony and the Oregon Symphony.
Her works have been recorded on over two dozen CDs. Telarc recently
released her work blue cathedral on a recording with the
Atlanta Symphony, Robert Spano, conducting, which spent the summer
on the Classical Billboard charts. March 2004 saw the release of
an all-Higdon orchestral disc on Telarc with Atlanta.
Jennifer Higdon holds a Ph.D. and a M.A. from the University of
Pennsylvania in composition, a B.M. in flute performance from Bowling
Green State University, and an Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute
of Music in Philadelphia. Her teachers have included George Crumb
and Ned Rorem (composition), Judith Bentley and Jan Vinci (flute)
and Robert Spano (conducting).
Higdon is currently on the composition faculty of The Curtis Institute
of Music in Philadelphia.
|
