Jennifer Higdon - Wikipedia Jennifer Higdon Jennifer Higdon ( born December 31, 1962 ) is an American composer of classical music and composition teacher. 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. Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Work and performances 2 Aesthetic 3 Reception 3.1 Awards 4 Selected discography 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Biography Jennifer Higdon was born in Brooklyn, New York. She spent the first 10 years of her life in Atlanta, Georgia before moving to Seymour, Tennessee. Largely self - taught, she played flute in her high school 's concert band and percussion in marching band, but heard little classical music before her college years. She studied flute performance at Bowling Green State University with Judith Bentley, who encouraged her to explore composition. During her time at Bowling Green, she wrote her first composition, a two - minute piece for flute and piano named Night Creatures. Of playing in the university orchestra, she has said : `` Because I came to classical music very differently than most people, the newer stuff had more appeal for me than the older. '' While at Bowling Green she met Robert Spano, who was teaching a conducting course there and who became one of the champions of Higdon 's music in the American orchestral community. Higdon earned an Artist 's Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with David Loeb and taught virtuoso Hilary Hahn. She then obtained both a Master of Arts and Doctor of Composition in composition from the University of Pennsylvania under the tutelage of George Crumb. She teaches composition at the Curtis Institute where she holds the Milton L. Rock Chair in Compositional Studies. She has served as Composer - in - Residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Fort Worth Symphony. Higdon lives with her wife Cheryl Lawson in Philadelphia. They met in high school. Work and performances Higdon has received commissions from major symphonies 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. Conductors who worked extensively with her include Christoph Eschenbach, Marin Alsop, Leonard Slatkin, and Giancarlo Guerrero. She wrote her first opera based on Charles Frazier 's 1997 novel, Cold Mountain with a libretto by Gene Scheer. It was co-commissioned by The Santa Fe Opera and Opera Philadelphia and premiered in Santa Fe in 2015. Her works have been recorded on more than four dozen CDs. Her most popular work is blue cathedral, a one - movement tone poem dealing with the death of her brother from cancer, which premiered in 2000. It has been performed by more than 400 orchestras since. Aesthetic Many of Jennifer Higdon 's pieces are considered neoromantic and tend to use octatonic scales. Her musical style uses elements of traditional tonality and display a freedom of form, intense dynamic changes and dense textures. Although Higdon 's pieces are mostly tonal, some atonality is still present. Reception The League of American Orchestras reported Higdon as one of the most performed living American composers, in 2008. `` Higdon 's music is lithe and expert, '' wrote Robert Battey of the Washington Post. `` Jennifer Higdon 's vivid, attractive works have made her a hot commodity lately, '' wrote Steve Smith of the New York Times. Of her Concerto for Orchestra, Richard Morrison in The Times ( London ) stated that `` it is rare to witness a big new orchestral piece being acclaimed as Jennifer Higdon 's Concerto for Orchestra was cheered on... The most impressive aspect is the panache with which a huge orchestra is deployed... This colourful, ever - changing instrumental panoply is doubtless one reason why the work makes an instant impression... Higdon 's work is traditionally rooted yet imbued with integrity, freshness and a desire to entertain. '' Among less favorable assessments, Andrew Clements in the Guardian gave a CD of Higdon 's music a minimal one - star rating. He referred to the music as `` American contemporary music at its most vacuous, a noisy mishmash ''. Tom Service, also in the Guardian also criticized Higdon 's Concerto For Orchestra. He wrote : `` The problem with Higdon 's piece... is that its flamboyant gestures... function only as surface effects, without creating any real structural momentum. '' Similarly, though in a more positive review, Raymond Tuttle wrote that `` even though the Concerto for Orchestra is not remarkable for its melodic content, there is so much color and brilliance in Higdon 's writing... that few listeners will notice. '' Awards 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 addition she has received grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Higdon has been a featured composer at festivals including Grand Teton, Tanglewood, Vail, Norfolk, Winnipeg and Cabrillo. She received a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto. Higdon won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto ( Lawdon Press ), which premiered February 6, 2009, in Indianapolis. The Pulitzer citation called it `` a deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity. '' It was commissioned jointly by the Indianapolis Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and the Curtis Institute of Music. Selected discography Cold Mountain ( world premiere ). Miguel Harth - Bedoya, Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard, Jay Hunter Morris, Emily Fons, Robert Pomakov, The Santa Fe Opera. PENTATONE PTC 5186583 ( 2016 ) See also Classical music portal List of compositions by Jennifer Higdon References Jump up ^ Schweitzer, Vivien ( April 21, 2010 ). `` Despite Anxiety and Naysayers, Composer Wins Her Pulitzer ''. The New York Times. Retrieved May 9, 2015. Jump up ^ Berger, Kevin ( March 25, 2012 ). `` Composer Jennifer Higdon pursues friendly music ''. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 9, 2015. Jump up ^ Nicholson, David ( October 26, 2010 ). `` Virginia Symphony presents Higdon 's percussion concerto ''. Daily Press. Retrieved April 29, 2015. Jump up ^ Christina L. Reitz, `` Jennifer Higdon '', ' ' The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ' ', second edition, ( Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2012 ). Jump up ^ Gambone, Philip ( 2010 ). Travels in a Gay Nation : Portraits of LGBTQ Americans. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 164 -- 165. ISBN 9780299236847. Jump up ^ Gambone, Travels, 163 - 5 Jump up ^ `` The Santa Fe Opera Announces New Works for Forthcoming season '' 10 August 2011, on santafeopera.org. Retrieved 8 April 2014 Jump up ^ `` Jennifer Higdon ''. Jennifer Higdon. 2013 - 11 - 11. Archived from the original on 2013 - 12 - 05. Retrieved 2013 - 11 - 21. Jump up ^ League of American Orchestras : `` 2007 - 2008 Season Orchestra Repertoire Report '', accessed June 21, 2010 Jump up ^ Guardian : Higdon : Concerto for Orchestra, accessed June 21, 2010 Jump up ^ Guardian : `` BBCSO / Slatkin '', accessed June 21, 2010 Jump up ^ Classical Net : Review, accessed June 21, 2010 Jump up ^ Dunkle, David N. ( February 2, 2010 ). `` Philadelphia composer Jennifer Higdon scores a Grammy ''. The Patriot - News. Retrieved May 9, 2015. Jump up ^ `` Alumna wins Grammy for Percussion Concerto ''. Pennsylvania Gazette. February 1, 2010. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2015. Jump up ^ `` The 2010 Pulitzer Prize Winners : Music '', The Pulitzer Prizes, accessed November 20, 2013. With short biography and program notes on the work. Jump up ^ M. Brent Williams ' Jennifer Higdon 's Violin Concerto - the Genesis of a 21st - century Work : ( 1 ), Mar. 5, 2010 External links Official website Composing Thoughts Radio Interview Jennifer Higdon at Library of Congress Authorities, with 63 catalog records Jennifer Higdon Opera Cold Mountain ( 2015 ) Concerto Concerto for Orchestra ( 2002 ) Oboe Concerto ( 2005 ) Percussion Concerto ( 2005 ) Piano Concerto ( 2006 ) Concerto 4 - 3 ( 2007 ) Saxophone Concerto ( 2007 ) The Singing Rooms ( 2007 ) Violin Concerto ( 2008 ) Viola Concerto ( 2015 ) Other orchestral blue cathedral ( 1999 ) Fanfare Ritmico ( 1999 ) City Scape ( 2002 ) Machine ( 2003 ) Dooryard Bloom ( 2004 ) Loco ( 2004 ) On the Death of the Righteous ( 2009 ) Chamber Light Refracted ( 2002 ) List of compositions by Jennifer Higdon Pulitzer Prize for Music ( 2001 -- 2010 ) John Corigliano ( ' 01 ) : Symphony No. 2 Henry Brant ( ' 02 ) : Ice Field John Adams ( ' 03 ) : On the Transmigration of Souls Paul Moravec ( ' 04 ) : Tempest Fantasy Steven Stucky ( ' 05 ) : Second Concerto for Orchestra Yehudi Wyner ( ' 06 ) : Chiavi in Mano Ornette Coleman ( ' 07 ) : Sound Grammar David Lang ( ' 08 ) : The Little Match Girl Passion Steve Reich ( ' 09 ) : Double Sextet Jennifer Higdon ( ' 10 ) : Violin Concerto Complete list ( 1943 -- 1950 ) ( 1951 -- 1960 ) ( 1961 -- 1970 ) ( 1971 -- 1980 ) ( 1981 -- 1990 ) ( 1991 -- 2000 ) ( 2001 -- 2010 ) ( 2011 -- 2020 ) ( Citations ) VIAF : 24485206 LCCN : nr94033531 ISNI : 0000 0001 1469 2771 GND : 13332009X SUDOC : 161271723 BNF : cb16190636p ( data ) MusicBrainz : d290f880 - 28bb - 4985 - b6e5 - de678b0077cb IATH : w6dn7xj3 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jennifer_Higdon&oldid=794683189 '' Categories : 1962 births Living people American female classical composers American classical composers Pew Fellows in the Arts Pulitzer Prize for Music winners Lesbian musicians 20th - century classical composers 21st - century classical composers Bowling Green State University alumni Curtis Institute of Music alumni Musicians from Brooklyn Musicians from Atlanta Charles Ives Prize 20th - century American musicians 21st - century American musicians Sigma Alpha Iota LGBT classical musicians LGBT musicians from the United States LGBT people from New York ( state ) LGBT people from Georgia ( U.S. state ) Pulitzer Prize winners Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from June 2010 Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Čeština Deutsch Français Italiano 日本 語 Polski Русский Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 9 August 2017, at 12 : 58. 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Question: contemporary female composer who has won the pulitzer prize in the 20th or 21st century
Answer: Jennifer Higdon