Jennifer Elaine Higdon (born December 31, 1962[1]) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019, she was a professor of composition at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1994 to 2021.[4]. Dr. Higdon received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, with the committee . http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-4600, Sauer, Gregory (professor directing treatise), Van Glahn, Denise (university representative), College of Music (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution). The striking color palettes and athletic virtuosity make the works by composers Robert Aldridge (Carolinian Dances - world premiere recording), Jennifer Higdon (String Poetic) and John Corigliano (Sonata for violin & piano) exciting adventures and audience favorites! I jumped up and down a little, confesses Higdon and that probably scared her cats, too. Despite these challenges, she established herself as a hard worker and a resilient student, even when she faced discouragement from some professors.[7]. [13] Her most popular work is blue cathedral, a one-movement tone poem which she wrote in memory of her brother, who died of cancer in 1998. Bartk is a clear influence in Fiery Red, as it is (unsurprisingly, perhaps) in Higdons Concerto for Orchestra (2002). Between 2016 and 2018, Higdon served as the prestigious Barr Laureate Scholar at the University of Missouri Kansas City. Higdon's Violin Concerto earned her the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for music. Christina L. Reitz, "Jennifer Higdon", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). Fly ForwardWorld premiere recordingHilary Hahn, viol. A perfect example, Higdon says, is the concerto's first movement, titled "1726" (the street address of Curtis). Premiered in 2000, it has since been performed by more than 400 orchestras around the world. Her father, Charles Higdon, was a painter and made efforts to expose his children to different types of art. Conductors who worked extensively with her include Christoph Eschenbach, Marin Alsop, Leonard Slatkin, and Giancarlo Guerrero. Higdon wrote the concerto for Hahn, whom she first met about 10 years ago when the young violinist attended Higdon's class in 20th-century music at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she teaches composition studies. The concerto was co . chamber music, Kammermusik [G], musique de chambre [F], musica da camera [I], musica cameralis [L] "Classical Music" for a small ensemble, generally 8 or fewer players with a canonical emphasis on 3-6 players. Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. Jennifer Higdon 's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was written in 2008. Duration: 4:46 Jennifer Koh plays the difficult violin part with exceptional beauty of tone, and the ASO Chorus is on top form. A Treatise submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts. She eventually obtained both a Master of Arts and a PhD in composition from the University of Pennsylvania under the tutelage of George Crumb. Higdons intimate side. The person presiding at the pre-concert forum wondered if Hahn would play from memory or from a score but, having (last spring in Milwaukee) asked Hahn if she had the score in hand and how long it would take her to learn it. She studied flute performance at Bowling Green State University with Judith Bentley, who encouraged her to explore composition. 1726 - YouTube Hilary Hahn, Violin. Violinist Hilary Hahn, for whom the . Pulitzer Prize and three-time Grammy-winner Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) taught herself to play flute at the age of 15 and began formal musical studies at 18, with an even later start in composition at the age of 21. Instead, her early musical education came from listening to rock and folk music from the 1960s. by the Boston Symphony conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, with Gregor Piatigorsky the soloist; 1944 - Schoenberg: Piano Concerto, by the NBC Symphony conducted by Leopold Stokowski, with Eduard Steuermann as soloist; 1959 - Poulenc: opera "La voix humaine" (The Human Voice), in Paris at the Opra Comique; 1976 - John La Montaine: opera "Be Glad, Then, America," at University Park, Pa.; 1996 - Stephen Paulus: "Dramatic Suite," for flute, viola, cello and piano, in St. Jennifer Higdon (b. Candace DiCarlo Here, again, the composer has written a crowd-pleaser that pleases for reasons one might not expect. Higdon has won three GRAMMY awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition: first for her Percussion Concerto in 2010, in 2018 for her Viola Concerto, and in 2020 for her Harp Concerto. During her time at Bowling Green, she wrote her first composition, a two-minute piece for flute and piano named Night Creatures. Jennifer Elaine Higdon (born December 31, 1962 [1]) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Composer Jennifer Higdon has won the Pulitzer Prize for music for her Violin Concerto, making her one of the few women to have won the countrys top classical music prize. Featured New Releases . And I have a tendency to make musical events happen or turn over fast. She has explained her philosophy partly as a reaction to the anything-goes happenings she experienced through her fathers artistic interests, her grounding in the steady rhythms of popular music, and also the dogged determination she felt she needed in order to make up for her own late start. All Rights Reserved. 1726 happens to be the street address of The Curtis Institute of Music. She has received many awards including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto and a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto. Some of the material in is restricted to members of the community. Violin Concerto: II - Jennifer Higdon 3. Sea and more. "[5] Duncan Druce of Gramophone similarly described the piece as "an attractive, colourful work, scored most imaginatively and with great finesse." In a brilliantly apt move, Hahn played as an encore an exquisite Sarabande by Bach that could not have been more of a change of pace. The Mannes Orchestra, led by Mannes Director of Orchestral and Conducting Studies David Hayes, returns to Alice Tully Hall in a concert featuring a symphonic world premiere by Adolphus Hailstork, a New York premiere by Zhou Tian, a New York premiere by Jennifer Higdon featuring CoPA . The 30-minute work received its world premiere on Feb. 6, 2009, by violinist. The opening of the concerto uses harmonics, a technique Higdon heard while listening to Hahn's recording of the Violin Concerto by Arnold Schoenberg. There was no need whatever to show her skill at this point and the full rich tone of Hahn's violin sounded wonderful in the fine acoustics of this hall. Hilary really makes it sing on the instrument.". Sonorities at first familiar . Jennifer Higdon is one of the leading American composers from the turn of the 21st century era. For a composer, this thrill often takes place in the writing of a concerto it is the exploration of an instruments world, a journey of the imagination, confronting and stretching an instruments limits, and discovering a particular performers gifts. In the latter work, Higdon goes to great lengths to provide the soloist with long stretches of soft, melodic music (mostly for vibraphone and marimba) which acts as a welcome foil for the obligatory, drum-heavy fireworks one (rightly) expects in a percussion extravaganza. Terms & Conditions | Violin Concerto No. Jennifer Higdon (born December 31, 1962) is an American composer of classical music and composition teacher. Jennifer Higdon is one of the cherished names in contemporary American classical music. Avoiding specific key signatures allows for sudden, surprising harmonic shifts and modulations. Chaconni26:40 3. The piece stands as a major contribution to the violin concerto repertoire and, although it is . Higdons Violin Concerto for Hilary Hahn won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music, and the composer said she found that out in a very 21st century fashion, when she noticed her cell phone was suddenly flooded with dozens and dozens of messages. This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. At 55, she is one of the most widely performed living composers in the United States. Having just returned from driving 660 miles, round trip, in order to hear this premire, I am sure I would be in a major funk had I been in the least disappointed by this concerto. 2023 GRAMMY WINNER! Appendix: Jennifer Higdon's Violin Concerto Instrumentation . In another original concerto pairing, Grammy award winning violinist, Hilary Hahn, releases the world-premiere recording of Jennifer Higdon's 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning concerto. Higdon 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 its citation, the Pulitzer board described the piece as deeply engaging and said that it combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity., Higdon said she wrote the concerto with Hahn in mind and that the piece is meant to show off her gifts.. "You know the track and field events where they are running across the tape at the end? Orchestras Symphonies & Bands near Missoula, MT. In her vocal and choral works, Higdon works to emulate speech patterns and applies them to writing both the pitch and the rhythm of her melodies. Higdon received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, with the committee citing the work as "a deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity." An acclaimed flutist and composer, Valerie Coleman's appointment to the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is adjacent to many recent career highlights including the world premiere performance of The Light We Can See flute concerto by composer Jennifer Higdon alongside the Chicago Philharmonic with conductor and MSM trustee . As the movement unfolds, these elements intertwine and elaborate. Gregory Sauer, Professor Directing Treatise; Denise Von Glahn, University Representative; Alexander Jimnez, Committee Member. "I jumped up and down a little," confesses Higdon - and that probably scared her cats, too. Violin ConcertoII. Jennifer Higdon *1962Violin Concerto - Dedicated to Hilary Hahn00:00 1. Toward the end of the opening movement there was a passage that was very reminiscent of birds singing and afterwards Higdon confirmed to me that was not an inappropriate characterization. It is a five-movement work, all of which showcases every section of the orchestra and is occasionally thematically reminiscent of the famous Bartk concerto. This article originally appeared in the June 2015 issue of Gramophone. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. Many of her works begin with a sparse orchestration, and build in performing forces as a piece continues, creating variety and interest throughout a given piece of music. On the occasions where she has set non-English texts, she tends to use both the text and translation in the piece, allowing the piece to more effectively communicate its message. Some of her rhythmic and melodic repetition could be considered minimalist in nature. [7] It was not until high school that she joined concert band, where she began playing percussion. The first movement of this concerto, written for the violinist, Hilary Hahn, carries a somewhat enigmatic title of 1726. This number represents an important aspect of such a journey of discovery, for both the composer and the soloist. Her works have been recorded on more than four dozen CDs. Composer Jennifer Higdon has won the Pulitzer Prize for music for her Violin Concerto, making her one of the few women to have won the country's top classical music prize. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. Jennifer Elaine Higdon (born December 31, 1962 [1] ) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Pulitzer Prize- and three-time Grammy Award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon is one of America's most frequently performed living composers. Shecurrently holds the Rock Chair in Composition at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. It is unlike any other work for violin and orchestra I have heard (and I have reviewed here over two dozen of them in the last few years.). She didnt begin composing until she was 21 and even then only at the behest of her flute teacher but went on to complete graduate studies at Curtis and the University of Pennsylvania, working with Ned Rorem and George Crumb, respectively. Starting a piece is the worst, says Higdon, and that can stretch from one day to three weeks of agony. [16] Tom Service, also in the Guardian also criticized Higdon's Concerto For Orchestra. Jennifer Higdon Violin Concerto World Premire Also on the program: Schumann's 4 th Symphony and Weber's overture to Freischtz Hilary Hahn, violin Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra/Mario Venzano Hilbert Circle Theatre, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA - February 6, 2009 Website. Societies & Foundation Associations near Missoula, MT. (Duncan Druce in his Gramophone review, 4/11 describes the slow movement as vaguely reminiscent of Vaughan Williams but with the lark ascending into a more unsettled sky.). Jennifer Higdon's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was written in 2008. Violin ConcertoI. She now receives more than two hundred performances a year of her works. Most of the people I started school with were far more advanced than I was, and I had an extraordinary amount of catching up to do." This song sets a text by Walt Whitman, from When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. Spiral bound score, 14 p. . Piano Concerto #2 (1963) - Leon Kirchner 6. By logging in, you may be able to gain additional access to certain collections or items. [10], Higdon has received commissions from major symphony orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the National Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, and the Dallas Symphony. (I must add that while some critics discern Coplands influence in this movement, I hear Debussy as channelled through Joni Mitchell; odd, yes, but it works beautifully.) She has won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition three times. [15] "Higdon's music is lithe and expert", wrote Robert Battey of the Washington Post. At times at least the concerto also struck me as not unlike music of the English pastoral school (think Vaughan Williams' 8th symphony, for example but not as though she were quoting and when I said this to Higdon she did not blanch. Jennifer Higdon's Violin Concerto was completed in August of 2008 and premiered 6 February 2009 by the work's dedicatee, Hilary Hahn, with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (co-commissioner) and Mario Venzago, serving as conductor. The percussion and brass filled the entire rear of the playing area on what would appear to be a two or three foot high riser except that it seems to be a permanent part of the structure of the Hilbert Circle Theatre, surely meant to spare the hearing of the other players. Its tempo is incredibly fast think of a prolonged Flight of the Bumblebee. Jennifer Higdon's Violin Concerto was completed in August of 2008 and premiered 6 February 2009 by the work's dedicatee, Hilary Hahn, with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (co-commissioner) and Mario Venzago, serving as conductor. The writing for woodwinds is especially satisfying. Her music is published exclusively by Lawdon Press. Jennifer Koh, violin (soloist). 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