Jennifer Higdon
Composer
Pulitzer Prize and three-time Grammy-winner Jennifer Higdon has become a major figure in contemporary Classical music and makes her living from commissions. She was most recently awarded the prestigious Nemmers Prize in Music Composition from Northwestern University. Her works represent a wide range of genres, from orchestral to chamber, to wind ensemble, as well as vocal, choral and opera. Her music has been hailed by Fanfare Magazine as having “the distinction of being at once complex, sophisticated but readily accessible emotionally”, with the Times of London citing it as “…traditionally rooted, yet imbued with integrity and freshness.” The Chicago Sun Times recently cited her music as “both modern and timeless, complex and sophisticated, and immensely engaging in a way that both charms and galvanizes an audience craving something new and full of urgency, yet not distancing.” John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune called her writing, “beautiful, accessible, inventive, and impeccably crafted.”
Higdon’s list of commissioners is extensive and includes The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well such groups as the Tokyo String Quartet, the Lark Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, and the President’s Own Marine Band. She has also written works for such artists as baritone Thomas Hampson, pianists Yuja Wang and Gary Graffman, violinists Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Jennifer Koh, and Hilary Hahn. Her first opera, Cold Mountain, won the prestigious International Opera Award for Best World Premiere in 2016; the first American opera to do so in the awards’ history. It sold out its premiere run in Santa Fe, as well as in North Carolina, and Philadelphia (becoming the third highest selling opera in Opera Philadelphia’s history).
Jennifer received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, with the committee citing Higdon’s work as “a deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity.” She has also received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Koussevitzky Foundation, the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, The Independence Foundation, the NEA, and ASCAP. A winner of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition’s American Composers Invitational, her Secret & Glass Gardens was performed by the semi-finalists.
Higdon Bio – 2 Higdon has been a featured composer at many festivals including Aspen, Tanglewood, Vail, Norfolk, Grand Teton, and Cabrillo. She has served as Composer-in-Residence with half a dozen orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Fort Worth Symphony. She was also honored to serve as one of the Creative Directors of the Boundless Series for the Cincinnati Symphony’s 2012-13 season. During the 2016-17 and 2017-18 academic years she served as the Barr Laureate Scholar at UMKC.
A recent concert season saw the successful premieres 3 major concerti: the Low Brass Concerto with the Chicago Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra, her Tuba Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Harp Concerto for Yolanda Kondonassis with the Rochester Philharmonic and Harrisburg Symphony.
Higdon enjoys more than 200 performances a year of her works. With more than 650 performances thus far, her orchestral work, blue cathedral, is the most performed contemporary orchestral work in the 21st Century repertoire. Her works have been recorded on over 70 CDs.
Among her many awards, Higdon has won three Grammys for Best Contemporary Classical Composition: her Percussion Concerto won in 2010, her Viola Concerto won in 2018, and her Harp Concerto won in 2020.
She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from Bowling Green State University, an Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been awarded honorary doctorates from the Hartt School and Bowling Green State University. She was recently inducted into the American Philosophical Society (founded by Benjamin Franklin).
Jennifer’s music is published exclusively by Lawdon Press. For more information, please visit www.jenniferhigdon.com