Ii. Elegy September 11 - Music

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Born April 30 1939 In Miami Florida Is An American Composer The First Female Composer To Win The Pulitzer Prize For Music. Her Early Works Are Marked By Atonal Exploration But By The Late 1980s She Had Matured To A Post-Modernist Neo-Romantic Style. She Has Been Called "one Of America’s Most Frequently Played And Genuinely Popular Living Composers." Zwilich Began Her Studies As A Violinist Earning A B.M. From Florida State University In 1960. She Moved To New York To Play With The American Symphony Orchestra Under Leopold Stokowski. She Later Enrolled At Juilliard Eventually In 1975 Becoming The First Woman To Earn The Degree Of Doctor Of Musical Arts In Composition. 1 Her Teachers Included John Boda Elliott Carter And Roger Sessions. A Prolific Composer In Virtually All Media Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Works Have Been Performed By Most Of The Leading American Orchestras And By Major Ensembles Abroad. Her Music First Came To Public Attention When Pierre Boulez Conducted Her Symposium For Orchestra At Juilliard 1975 But It Was The 1983 Pulitzer Prize For The Symphony No. 1 That Brought Her Instantly Into International Focus. Commissions Major Performances And Recordings Soon Followed The Symphony No. 2 Cello Symphony Premiered By Edo De Waart And The San Francisco Symphony Symphony No. 3 Written For The New York Philharmonic’s 150th Anniversary Symphony No. 4 "The Gardens" With Chorus Commissioned By Michigan State University And The Subject Of A PBS Documentary Seen Nationally The Juilliard-Commissioned Symphony No. 5 Concerto For Orchestra Premiered At Carnegie Hall Under James Conlon's Direction And The String Of Concertos Commissioned And Performed Over The Past Two Decades By The Nation’s Top Orchestras — For Piano Detroit Symphony Under Günther Herbig Trombone Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sir Georg Solti Flute Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa Oboe Cleveland Orchestra Christoph Von Dohnányi Violin And Cello Louisville Orchestra Lawrence Leighton Smith Bass Trombone Chicago Symphony Orchestra Daniel Barenboim French Horn Rochester Philharmonic Lawrence Leighton Smith Bassoon Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Lorin Maazel Trumpet San Diego Symphony JoAnn Falletta Triple Concerto For Piano Violin And Cello Minnesota Orchestra Zdenek Macal Violin Orchestra Of St. Luke’s Hugh Wolff And Millennium Fantasy For Piano Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Jesús López-Cobos . Ms. Zwilich’s Most Recent Concertos Include The Clarinet Concerto 2002-2003 Written For The Chamber Music Society Of Lincoln Center And The Buffalo Philharmonic Conducted By JoAnn Falletta Chamber And Orchestral Versions Respectively With Soloist David Shifrin And Rituals 2004 For 5 Percussionists And Orchestra Premiered By IRIS Orchestra Under Michael Stern Featuring The Renowned Nexus Percussion Ensemble. Shadows For Piano And Orchestra Commissioned By An International Consortium Was Premiered By Soloist Jeffrey Biegel In 2011 And Commedia Dell’Arte A Work For Solo Violin And String Orchestra Written For And Commissioned By Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg And The New Century Chamber Orchestra Of San Francisco Was Premiered In 2012. Ms. Zwilich’s Orchestral Essay Symbolon Was Commissioned By The New York Philharmonic Expressly To Receive Its World Premiere In What Was Then Leningrad. Conductor Zubin Mehta Subsequently Performed It In Europe Asia And America And Recorded It On The New World Label. Carnegie Hall’s 1997 Family Concert Series Featured Peanuts Gallery For Piano And Orchestra A Work Based On Charles Schulz’s Peanuts Characters. Millennium Fantasy For Piano And Orchestra A Commission By A Consortium Of 27 Orchestras Was Premiered In September 2000 By Jeffrey Biegel And The Cincinnati Symphony Under Jesús López-Cobos. At The Premiere The Mayor Of Cincinnati Issued A Proclamation Naming September 23 2000 "Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Day" And Presented Ms. Zwilich With The Keys To The City. Ms. Zwilich’s Chamber Works Have Been Commissioned By The Boston Musica Viva Chamber Symphony Passages The Abe Fortas Memorial Fund Of The John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts 92nd Street Y And San Francisco Performances Piano Trio The New York State Music Teachers Association Divertimento The McKim Fund In The Library Of Congress Romance For Violin The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival And Chamber Music Northwest Clarinet Quintet The Chamber Music Society Of Lincoln Center Double Quartet And Clarinet Concerto Carnegie Hall String Quartet No. 2 Ruth Eckerd Hall For Itzhak Perlman Episodes For Violin And Piano The Saratoga Chamber Music Festival Oboe Quartet And California EAR Unit LUVN BLM . The 2007-2008 Concert Season Saw The Premiere Of Quintet For Alto Saxophone And String Quartet Commissioned By A Consortium Comprising Arizona Friends Of Chamber Music The Chamber Music Society Of Detroit Fontana Chamber Arts And Michigan State University And In 2008-2009 Her Septet Written For The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson K-L-R Trio And The Miami String Quartet Premiered With The First Of A Series Of Performances Presented By The 12 Co-Commissioning Organizations. In 2011 Her Quintet For Piano Violin Viola Cello And Contrabass Inspired By Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet Was Performed By The K-L-R Trio Across The Country To A Chorus Of Critical Praise And In 2012 The St. Lawrence String Quartet Premiered Voyage A Piece Commemorating The Centennials Of The Galimir String Quartet. In 2014 The 16 Semi-Finalists Of The International Violin Competition Of Indianapolis Performed Zwilich’s Fantasy For Solo Violin In Their Recital Programs. Zwilich Has Been The Subject Of Two Cartoons In The Late Charles Schulz’s Celebrated Peanuts Series. The First Cartoon In Which The Peanuts Characters Attend The Premiere Of Ms. Zwilich’s Concerto For Flute Set Off A Chain Of Events Which Led Eventually To The Completion Of Zwilich’s Peanuts Gallery For Piano And Orchestra Which Was Also Featured In Schulz’s Comic Strip. Peanuts Gallery Which Ms. Zwilich Wrote For A 1997 Carnegie Hall Children’s Concert Went On To Become The Basis Of The Second PBS Documentary To Feature Her Music The First "The Gardens Birth Of A Symphony" Featured Symphony No. 4 "The Gardens" . The Acclaimed "Peanuts Gallery" Special Has Aired Hundreds Of Times Nationwide Since Its 2006 PBS Debut And Continues To Be Rebroadcast. Ellen Zwilich Is The Recipient Of Numerous Prizes And Honors Including The 1983 Pulitzer Prize In Music The First Woman Ever To Receive This Coveted Award The Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Chamber Music Prize The Arturo Toscanini Music Critics Award The Ernst Von Dohnányi Citation An Academy Award From The American Academy Of Arts And Letters A Guggenheim Fellowship 4 Grammy Nominations The Alfred I. Dupont Award Miami Performing Arts Center Award The Medaglia D'oro In The G.B. Viotti Competition And The NPR And WNYC Gotham Award For Her Contributions To The Musical Life Of New York City. Among Other Distinctions Ms. Zwilich Has Been Elected To The American Classical Music Hall Of Fame The Florida Artists Hall Of Fame The American Academy Of Arts And Sciences And The American Academy Of Arts And Letters. In 1995 She Was Named To The First Composer’s Chair In The History Of Carnegie Hall And She Was Designated Musical America’s Composer Of The Year For 1999. Ms. Zwilich Who Holds A Doctorate From The Juilliard School Has Received Honorary Doctorates From Oberlin College Manhattanville College Marymount Manhattan College Mannes College/The New School Converse College And Michigan State University. She Currently Holds The Francis Eppes Distinguished Professorship At Florida State University. read less