Composition Matters

Jun 19 2006
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Jennifer Higdon
Jennifer Higdon

Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) maintains a full schedule of commissions, writing on average 6-12 works a year, and is now considered a major figure in contemporary American music.

Higdon's list of commissioners is extensive and include The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony, The Atlanta Symphony, The National Symphony, The Minnesota Orchestra, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Pittsburgh Symphony, The Baltimore Symphony, The Indianapolis Symphony, The Dallas Symphony, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, St. Lukes Chamber Ensemble, pianist Gary Graffman, the Tokyo String Quartet, the Ying Quartet, eighth blackbird, the Gilmore Piano Festival, and the Philadelphia Singers.

She has been honored with awards and grants 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. She is currently Composer-in-Residence with the Philadelphia Singers. Her orchestral work Shine was named Best Contemporary Piece of 1996 by USA Today in their year-end classical picks. In the summer of 2003, she was the first woman to be named a featured composer at the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival.

Higdon enjoys more than a hundred performances a year of her works. Her orchestral work blue cathedral is one of the most performed contemporary orchestral works in the United States, receiving more than 50 performances in the '04 -'05 season alone. As of February 20, 2005, Higdon's Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra, has received 19 performances since its June 2002 premiere.

Her works have been recorded on over 2 dozen CDs. In spring of 2003 Telarc released blue cathedral with the Atlanta Symphony, Robert Spano, conducting, on a disc that made the Classical Billboard charts. Telarc has also recently released Higdon: Concerto for Orchestra/City Scape which was nominated for 4 Grammy Awards.

She holds degrees from Bowling Green State University, University of Pennsylvania, and The Curtis Institute of Music, where she is currently on the composition faculty.

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What a wonderful discussion this is going to be… initially I’d like to say…”Thank you Drew, and why haven’t we done this before?”

I believe fervently that the connection between composers and orchestra musicians is paramount to the survival of our corner of the music world. The connection is the spark that makes a complete circuit in an art that I think illuminates the soul…unfortunately disconnect is a common occurrence, and is distressing and damaging. After spending this past season being present to work with 9 orchestras, and serving 6 weeks with the Pittsburgh Symphony, as their composer-of-the-year, I feel I have a comprehensive picture of the general health of the relationship between the composer and the musicians.

I have found that there are certain things that are disturbingly common in every orchestra: there is always at least one individual that is genuinely angry that they had to practice the new piece. I have always believed that it is very important as a composer to listen to what performers have to say; while they’re not always correct, as a composer I might learn something. That doesn’t mean that the violist that recently cornered me because she was so angry about how hard it was to read her part in a Hindemith piece (I guess she felt I represented all 20th century composers because I was born in the same century) was justified for her small tirade (it was surprising how angry she was).

But I’ve also worked as a performer trying to learn a new piece where it was obvious the composer had decided that tempo markings, dynamics, and phrase markings were just too much trouble to put in, so I’m sympathetic to the frustrations that musicians feel when they’re putting in time on a work and yet they feel there’s no musical, monetary, or emotional payoff. Just as I don’t want to assume that every musician is going to be like the “tirade” violist, I don’t want every musician to assume that playing one of my pieces is going to be like every other new music experience they’ve had.

My staring point: the conductor does have an extraordinary amount of power in both music selection and the attitude that is initially brought to the experience of rehearsing and performing the piece. I’ve seen conductors make the entire experience negative for everyone, regardless of whether the piece was fantastic or dreck. Also, there will never be an instance where everything in a piece is perfect…it’s not possible; but I also don’t have a similar expectation in regards to the musicians (it’s not going to be perfect in the reading or the performance either). We’re all in this together, despite the fact that there are those who believe that music can go on without living composers (yes, I’ve heard quite a few people make this statement); and I will do everything I can to make things better for the composers, the orchestra’s musicians and the audience. This forum is great because communication is what we need.

About the author

Jennifer Higdon
Jennifer Higdon

Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) maintains a full schedule of commissions, writing on average 6-12 works a year, and is now considered a major figure in contemporary American music.

Higdon's list of commissioners is extensive and include The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony, The Atlanta Symphony, The National Symphony, The Minnesota Orchestra, The Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Pittsburgh Symphony, The Baltimore Symphony, The Indianapolis Symphony, The Dallas Symphony, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, St. Lukes Chamber Ensemble, pianist Gary Graffman, the Tokyo String Quartet, the Ying Quartet, eighth blackbird, the Gilmore Piano Festival, and the Philadelphia Singers.

She has been honored with awards and grants 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. She is currently Composer-in-Residence with the Philadelphia Singers. Her orchestral work Shine was named Best Contemporary Piece of 1996 by USA Today in their year-end classical picks. In the summer of 2003, she was the first woman to be named a featured composer at the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival.

Higdon enjoys more than a hundred performances a year of her works. Her orchestral work blue cathedral is one of the most performed contemporary orchestral works in the United States, receiving more than 50 performances in the '04 -'05 season alone. As of February 20, 2005, Higdon's Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra, has received 19 performances since its June 2002 premiere.

Her works have been recorded on over 2 dozen CDs. In spring of 2003 Telarc released blue cathedral with the Atlanta Symphony, Robert Spano, conducting, on a disc that made the Classical Billboard charts. Telarc has also recently released Higdon: Concerto for Orchestra/City Scape which was nominated for 4 Grammy Awards.

She holds degrees from Bowling Green State University, University of Pennsylvania, and The Curtis Institute of Music, where she is currently on the composition faculty.

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