Jennifer Higdon

Jennifer Higdon (born December 31, 1962) is an American composer of classical music and flutist.

Biography

Higdon was born in Brooklyn, but spent her first 10 years in Atlanta before moving to Tennessee. With almost no advanced flute training, she studied at Bowling Green State University towards a degree in flute performance. While at Bowling Green she met Robert Spano, who was teaching a conducting course there; Spano would go on to be the foremost champions of Higdon's music in the American orchestral community. Other conductors who have worked extensively with Higdon include Christoph Eschenbach, Marin Alsop, and Leonard Slatkin. Higdon earned an Artist's Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with David Loeb. She then obtained a master's degree and doctoral degree in composition from the University of Pennsylvania under the tutelage of George Crumb.

Higdon now teaches composition at the Curtis Institute. She served with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as Composer-in-Residence in 2005-2006, with the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra in 2006-2007 and is currently Composer in Residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra, with two world premieres with that orchestra in January 2008. Her musical style uses elements of traditional tonality and she demonstrates an uncanny knack for interesting color combinations. In 2002, Higdon received two commissions from major symphonies; her "Concerto for Orchestra" was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra and "City Scape" by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. "blue cathedral," a one-movement tone poem dealing with the death (from melanoma) of her brother, Andrew Blue Higdon, has quickly become the most performed modern orchestral piece by a living American composer; it has been performed by more than 150 orchestras since its premiere in 2000.

Aesthetic

Many of Jennifer Higdon's pieces are considered Neoromantic, tend to use octatonic scales; they display a freedom of form, intense dynamic changes and dense textures. Although Higdon's pieces are mostly tonal, some atonality is still present.

Critical reception

In general, critics' reviews of her music are positive. Examples: "Higdon's music is lithe and expert," says Robert Battey of "The Washington Post". "Jennifer Higdon's vivid, attractive works have made her a hot commodity lately," says Steve Smith of "The New York Times".

Criticism of her style can be fierce: Mark Swed of "The Los Angeles Times" has included Higdon in what he calls the Atlanta School (composers whose works have been championed by conductor Robert Spano), writing, "At times, the Atlanta School even suggests a voluntary embrace of the kinds of music that arose under dictatorial regimes that restricted artistic freedom, of the populist demands made on composers by Hitler and Stalin." [Mark Swed, [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-ca-complexity18-2008may18,0,4878623.story Los Angeles Times] , accessed June 5, 2008]

Other negative comments available about Higdon's music are usually customer reviews of her CD's on various sites where one can purchase music. For example, David Smalling writing at Amazon.com admits Higdon's music "is very professional and well done" but while "listening carefully at the moment the music was sounding," he "had almost no lasting memory or impression, and most importantly, no feeling about the music I just listened to. The music sounds impressive, but there is not much happening beneath the surface." [David Smalling, [http://www.amazon.com/review/R2S35O2GE47YSY/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R2S35O2GE47YSY Amazon.com review of Telarc CD-80620] , accessed May 14, 2008]

ee also

* List of compositions by Jennifer Higdon

References

* [http://www.jenniferhigdon.com/ Jennifer Higdon website home page]
* [http://composingthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/05/higdon.html Composing Thoughts Radio Interview]