Jennifer Higdon (born 1962)
Jennifer Higdon was born in Brooklyn but spent her early years in Atlanta and then Seymour, Tennessee. She did not have much exposure to classical music in her youth but played percussion in high school band and taught herself flute. It was only at Bowling Green State University that she began exploring music theory and composition. She studied at Curtis Institute of Music (where she later taught) and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. Her composition teachers included Ned Rorem and George Crumb.
Jennifer Higdon’s music doesn’t stray too far from traditional structure and harmony, but it ranges widely in colors and mood. She can write intricate melodic lines that surge with an exhilarating pace and bravura, but also quite lyrical slow passages. A sense of joy often pervades her music, as well as suggestions of the American experience similar to the music of Aaron Copland.
Jennifer Higdon’s early 1992 virtuoso piece rapid*fire for solo flute ends with an explosive popper being thrown to the floor:
Here is one of her early orchestral compositions, blue cathedral from 1999, written in memory of her brother (whose middle name was Blue) who died of cancer. Although it begins and ends slowly and sparsely, the middle section has quite a driving rhythmic intensity to it. This is a performance by the Portland Youth Philharmonic.
Based on live performances on YouTube, one of her most popular works is her Percussion Concerto from 2005. Here’s a performance by the Eastman Wind Ensemble:
Jennifer Higdon won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto composed in 2008 for one of her former students at Curtis, violinist Hillary Hahn. Her opera based on the novel Cold Mountain was premiered by the Santa Fe Opera in 2015 and then performed by Opera Philadelphia (where I saw it) in 2016.
Also premiered in 2015 was Jennifer Higdon’s Viola Concerto, which won a 2018 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contempory Composition. Here it is performed by violist Kimberly Starr: