View source for Jennifer Higdon

{{Short description|American composer (born 1962)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
[[File:Jennifer Higdon at 2014 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.jpg|thumb|Higdon speaking at the 2014 [[Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music]]]]
'''Jennifer Elaine Higdon''' (born December 31, 1962<ref name="Higdon">{{Cite web|url=http://jenniferhigdon.com/biography.html|title=About Jennifer Higdon|website=jenniferhigdon.com|language=en|access-date=June 2, 2018|archive-date=June 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180603035941/http://jenniferhigdon.com/biography.html|url-status=live}}</ref>) is an American [[composer]] of [[contemporary classical music]]. She has received [[#Awards|many awards]], including the 2010 [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] for her [[Violin Concerto (Higdon)|Violin Concerto]]<ref>{{cite web |last=Schweitzer |first=Vivien |title=Despite Anxiety and Naysayers, Composer Wins Her Pulitzer |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 21, 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/arts/music/22higdon.html |access-date=May 9, 2015 |archive-date=January 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103103749/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/arts/music/22higdon.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Berger |first=Kevin |title=Composer Jennifer Higdon pursues friendly music |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=March 25, 2012 |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-xpm-2012-mar-25-la-ca-jennifer-higdon-20120325-story.html |access-date=May 9, 2015 |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518133751/http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/25/entertainment/la-ca-jennifer-higdon-20120325 |url-status=live }}</ref> and three [[Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition|Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition]] for her [[Percussion Concerto (Higdon)|Percussion Concerto]] in 2010, [[Viola Concerto (Higdon)|Viola Concerto]] in 2018, and [[Harp Concerto (Higdon)|Harp Concerto]] in 2020. Elected a Member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 2019, she was a professor of composition at the [[Curtis Institute of Music]] from 1994 to 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.curtis.edu/academics/faculty/jennifer-higdon/|title=Jennifer Higdon|website=www.curtis.edu|access-date=March 20, 2020|archive-date=March 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200320180515/https://www.curtis.edu/academics/faculty/jennifer-higdon/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Biography==
Higdon was born in [[Brooklyn|Brooklyn, New York]]. She spent the first 10 years of her life in [[Atlanta|Atlanta, Georgia]] before moving to [[Seymour, Tennessee]]. Her father, Charles Higdon, was a [[Painting|painter]] and made efforts to expose his children to different types of art. He took them to various exhibitions of new and experimental art that gave her her earliest exposure to art and helped her to form an idea of what art was.<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis|title=A discussion of Jennifer Higdon's setting of the poetry of Amy Lowell in the chamber work 'Love Sweet'|last=Leontis|first=Evangelia Sophia |publisher=The University of North Carolina at Greensboro |degree=Doctor of Musical Arts |date=2017|language=en|id = {{ProQuest|1927626883}}}}</ref> She also developed an interest in photography and writing at an early age.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=A composer's insight : thoughts, analysis, and commentary on contemporary masterpieces for wind band|date=2003|publisher=Meredith Music Publications|editor-last=Salzman |editor-first=Timothy |isbn=0-634-05827-4|edition=1st|location=Galesville, MD|oclc=52827655|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/composersinsight0000unse}}</ref> Despite her early introduction to art, she received very little exposure to classical music in her home. Instead, her early musical education came from listening to rock and folk music from the 1960s.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Composition in the digital world : conversations with 21st century American composers|last=Raines|first=Robert|isbn=978-0-19-935703-1|location=New York, NY|oclc=880689841|year = 2015}}</ref> It was not until high school that she joined concert band, where she began playing [[Percussion instrument|percussion]]. At about the same time, she picked up a [[flute]] her mother had bought, and she began teaching herself to play using an old flute method book. She played flute in her high school's concert band and percussion in marching band, but heard little classical music before her college years.

She studied flute performance at [[Bowling Green State University]] with Judith Bentley, who encouraged her to explore composition. Because of her lack of formal training at an early age, Higdon struggled to catch up early in her college career. She said of beginning college, "I didn't know any basic theory, how to spell a [[Chord (music)|chord]], what intervals were, and I had zero keyboard skills. I basically started from the very, very beginning. Most of the people I started school with were far more advanced than I was, and I had an extraordinary amount of catching up to do." Despite these challenges, she established herself as a hard worker and a resilient student, even when she faced discouragement from some professors.<ref name=":2" />

During her time at Bowling Green, she wrote her first composition, a two-minute piece for flute and piano named ''Night Creatures''.<ref>Christina L. Reitz, "Jennifer Higdon", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).</ref> Of playing in the university orchestra, she has said: "Because I came to classical music very differently than most people, the newer stuff had more appeal for me than the older."<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Philip Gambone |first=Philip |last=Gambone |title=Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=2010 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/travelsingaynati00gamb/page/164 164–165] |isbn=978-0-299-23684-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/travelsingaynati00gamb/page/164 }}</ref> While at Bowling Green, she met [[Robert Spano]], who was teaching a conducting course there and who became one of the champions of Higdon's music in the American orchestral community.

Higdon earned an Artist's Diploma from the [[Curtis Institute of Music]], where she studied with [[David Loeb (composer)|David Loeb]] and taught the future virtuoso [[Hilary Hahn]]. She eventually obtained both a Master of Arts and a PhD in composition from the [[University of Pennsylvania]] under the tutelage of [[George Crumb]].

From 1994 to 2021, Higdon was a professor of composition at the [[Curtis Institute of Music]], where she held the Milton L. Rock Chair in Compositional Studies. She has served as Composer-in-Residence with the [[Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra]], the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, the [[Philadelphia Orchestra]], the [[Fort Worth Symphony]] and the [[Music Academy of the West]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Kepl |first=Daniel |date=August 16, 2019 |title=Marin Alsop Schmoozes with the Academy Festival Orchestra |url=https://issuu.com/casamagazine/docs/8.16.19.voice_24_pg?fr=sNGY4NjEwNjgw |access-date=January 27, 2020 |magazine=Voice |location=Santa Barbara |page=9 |quote=Jennifer Higdon has been American composer in residence at the Music Academy of the West this summer. |archive-date=August 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190823074137/https://issuu.com/casamagazine/docs/8.16.19.voice_24_pg?fr=sNGY4NjEwNjgw |url-status=live }}</ref>

Higdon lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

== Works and performances ==

{{See also|List of compositions by Jennifer Higdon}}

Higdon has received commissions from major symphony orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the [[Cleveland Orchestra]], the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra|Chicago Symphony]], the [[Atlanta Symphony Orchestra|Atlanta Symphony]], the [[National Symphony Orchestra|National Symphony]], the [[Minnesota Orchestra]], the [[Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra|Pittsburgh Symphony]], the [[Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra|Indianapolis Symphony]], and the [[Dallas Symphony Orchestra|Dallas Symphony]]. Conductors who worked extensively with her include [[Christoph Eschenbach]], [[Marin Alsop]], [[Leonard Slatkin]], and [[Giancarlo Guerrero]]. She has written works for [[Solo (music)|soloists]] including [[baritone]] [[Thomas Hampson]], [[pianists]] [[Yuja Wang]] and [[Gary Graffman]], violinists [[Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg]], [[Jennifer Koh]] and [[Hilary Hahn]].<ref name="Higdon"/>

She wrote her first [[opera]] based on Charles Frazier's 1997 novel, ''[[Cold Mountain (novel)|Cold Mountain]]'' with a libretto by [[Gene Scheer]]. It was co-commissioned by [[The Santa Fe Opera]] and [[Opera Philadelphia]] and premiered in Santa Fe in 2015.<ref>[http://www.santafeopera.org/thecompany/news/pressreleases/detail.aspx?id=6128 "The Santa Fe Opera Announces New Works for Forthcoming season"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218081907/https://www.santafeopera.org/thecompany/news/pressreleases/detail.aspx?id=6128 |date=February 18, 2019 }} August 10, 2011, on santafeopera.org.  Retrieved April 8, 2014</ref>

Her works have been recorded on more than four dozen CDs.<ref name="official">{{cite web |url=http://www.jenniferhigdon.com |title=Jennifer Higdon |date=November 11, 2013 |access-date=April 14, 2018 |archive-date=December 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205041413/http://www.jenniferhigdon.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Her most popular work is ''[[blue cathedral]]'', a one-movement tone poem which she wrote in memory of her brother, who died of cancer in 1998. Premiered in 2000, it has since been performed by more than 400 orchestras around the world.

=== Selected discography ===
* [[Cold Mountain (opera)|Cold Mountain]] (world premiere). [[Miguel Harth-Bedoya]], [[Nathan Gunn]], [[Isabel Leonard]], [[Jay Hunter Morris]], Emily Fons, [[Robert Pomakov]], [[Santa Fe Opera|The Santa Fe Opera]]. [[Pentatone (record label)|PENTATONE]] PTC 5186583 (2016)

==Compositional style and influence==
Jennifer Higdon's musical background has influenced her in many unique ways. Her style grew out of her musical upbringing, which was characterized by much greater and earlier exposure to popular music such as [[the Beatles]], [[the Rolling Stones]], [[Simon & Garfunkel]], and many other groups, rather than to classical music. As a result, she has described her own compositional process as "intuitive" and "instinctive", where she favors music that makes sense, rather than writing music that adheres to classical forms and structures.<ref name=":1" /> Popular and folk music were not the only early influences on her composition; the mountains and wide open spaces of her Tennessee home have influenced her style, and even helped bond her to George Crumb, who encouraged her to use nature as a muse.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/304867477/|title=Comprehensive analysis of selected orchestral works by Jennifer Higdon|last=Reitz|first=Christina L|date=2007|website=Proquest Dissertations and Theses Global|language=en|access-date=September 3, 2018}}</ref>

Many of Jennifer Higdon's pieces are considered [[neoromanticism (music)|neoromantic]]. Harmonically, Higdon's music tends to use tonal structures, but eschews traditional harmonic progressions in favor of more open intervals. Avoiding specific key signatures allows for sudden, surprising harmonic shifts and modulations. Open perfect fifths and parallel fifths can be found in most of her compositions.<ref name=":1" /> She also often uses scalar passages to add melodic or harmonic context to the music. Her early background in percussion likely influenced her rhythmic style; her music often features complex, intricate rhythmic passages, even when melodies are lyrical. She also makes use of rhythmic ostinati which give motion to many of her works – especially her more rapid compositions. Some of her rhythmic and melodic repetition could be considered [[Minimal music|minimalist]] in nature.

In her vocal and choral works, Higdon works to emulate speech patterns and applies them to writing both the pitch and the rhythm of her melodies. She tries to reflect the mood of the text, which results in melodies that tend to have a more romantic sound. On the occasions where she has set non-English texts, she tends to use both the text and translation in the piece, allowing the piece to more effectively communicate its message.

Structurally, her music reflects the "intuitive" style that she composes by: Her music is decidedly sectional, but tends to have a natural flow – melodies often carry over bar lines, creating some motivic and sectional ambiguity. Many of her works begin with a sparse orchestration, and build in performing forces as a piece continues, creating variety and interest throughout a given piece of music. Higdon does not intentionally compose with a form in mind, but allows the music to unfold naturally.<ref name=":0" />

==Reception==
The League of American Orchestras reported Higdon as one of the most performed living American composers, in 2008. "Higdon's music is lithe and expert", wrote Robert Battey of the ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]''. "Jennifer Higdon's vivid, attractive works have made her a hot commodity lately," wrote Steve Smith of the ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]''. Regarding one of Higdon's most popular compositions, ''Blue Cathedral,'' Rowena Smith of [[The Guardian]] writes, "it is pure new-age fluff; undemanding, unadventurous tonality dressed up as a quasi-mystical experience by the addition of bells and chimes." 

Among less favorable assessments, Andrew Clements in the ''[[The Guardian|Guardian]]'' gave a CD of Higdon's music a minimal one-star rating. He referred to the music as "American contemporary music at its most vacuous, a noisy mishmash".<ref>''Guardian'': [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/apr/30/classicalmusicandopera.shopping4 Higdon: Concerto for Orchestra] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313130331/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/apr/30/classicalmusicandopera.shopping4 |date=March 13, 2017 }}, accessed June 21, 2010</ref> [[Tom Service]], also in the ''Guardian'' also criticized Higdon's ''Concerto For Orchestra''. He wrote: "The problem with Higdon's piece&nbsp;... is that its flamboyant gestures&nbsp;... function only as surface effects, without creating any real structural momentum."<ref>''Guardian'': [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/apr/08/classicalmusicandopera1 "BBCSO/Slatkin"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313131426/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/apr/08/classicalmusicandopera1 |date=March 13, 2017 }}, accessed June 21, 2010</ref> Similarly, though in a more positive review, Raymond Tuttle wrote that "even though the ''Concerto for Orchestra'' is not remarkable for its melodic content, there is so much color and brilliance in Higdon's writing&nbsp;... that few listeners will notice."<ref>Classical Net: [http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/t/tlc80620b.php Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415204015/http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/t/tlc80620b.php |date=April 15, 2010 }}, accessed June 21, 2010</ref>

=== Awards ===
Higdon received awards from the [[John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|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. In addition she has received grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Higdon has been a featured composer at festivals including Grand Teton, [[Tanglewood]], Vail, Norfolk, Winnipeg and Cabrillo.

She has won the [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition|Best Contemporary Classical Composition]] three times. The first was in 2010 for her [[Percussion Concerto (Higdon)|Percussion Concerto]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Dunkle |first=David N. |title=Philadelphia composer Jennifer Higdon scores a Grammy |work=[[The Patriot-News]] |date=February 2, 2010 |url=http://blog.pennlive.com/go/2010/02/philadelphia_composer_jennifer.html |access-date=May 9, 2015 |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518090524/http://blog.pennlive.com/go/2010/02/philadelphia_composer_jennifer.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Alumna wins Grammy for Percussion Concerto |work=[[Pennsylvania Gazette]] |date=February 1, 2010 |url=http://penngazettearts.com/2010/02/01/jennifer-higdon-grammy/ |access-date=May 9, 2015 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518081229/http://penngazettearts.com/2010/02/01/jennifer-higdon-grammy/ |archive-date=May 18, 2015 }}</ref> The second was in 2018 for her [[Viola Concerto (Higdon)|Viola Concerto]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Chow |first=Andrew |title=Grammy 2018 Winners: Full List |work=[[New York Times]] |date=January 28, 2018 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/arts/music/grammy-winners.html |access-date=January 29, 2018 |archive-date=January 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129235425/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/arts/music/grammy-winners.html |url-status=live }}</ref> That concerto was part of an album dedicated to her music on the Naxos label, ''Higdon: All Things Majestic, Viola Concerto, and Oboe Concerto'', which also won the 2018 Grammy for Best Classical Compendium.<ref>{{cite web |last=Chow |first=Andrew |title=Grammy 2018 Winners: Full List |work=[[New York Times]] |date=January 28, 2018 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/arts/music/grammy-winners.html |access-date=January 29, 2018 |archive-date=January 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129235425/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/arts/music/grammy-winners.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The third was in 2020 for her [[Harp Concerto (Higdon)|Harp Concerto]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/2020-grammy-awards-complete-nominees-winners-list|title=2020 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Winners List|date=November 20, 2019|website=GRAMMY.com|language=en|access-date=January 26, 2020}}</ref>

Higdon won the annual [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] for her [[Violin Concerto (Higdon)|Violin Concerto]] (Lawdon Press), which premiered February 6, 2009, in Indianapolis. The Pulitzer citation called it "a deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity".<ref name=pulitzer>[http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2010-Music "The 2010 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Music"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415141031/http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2010-Music |date=April 15, 2010 }}, The Pulitzer Prizes, accessed November 20, 2013. With short biography and program notes on the work.</ref><ref name="brent">{{cite web|title=Jennifer Higdon's Violin Concerto- the Genesis of a 21st-century Work|url=http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A254351|author=M. Brent Williams|date=March 5, 2010|publisher=Florida State University|access-date=April 15, 2018|archive-date=April 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180415190431/http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu%3A254351|url-status=live}}</ref> It was commissioned jointly by the Indianapolis Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and the Curtis Institute of Music.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{official website |www.jenniferhigdon.com/ }}
* [http://composingthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/05/higdon.html Composing Thoughts Radio Interview]
* {{LCAuth|nr94033531|Jennifer Higdon|63|}}
* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/higdon.html Interview with Jennifer Higdon], February 14, 2004

{{Jennifer Higdon}}
{{PulitzerPrize Music 2001–2010}}
{{Portal bar|Classical music|Opera|Biography|Music}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Higdon, Jennifer}}
[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Sevier County, Tennessee]]
[[Category:American women classical composers]]
[[Category:Pew Fellows in the Arts]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Music winners]]
[[Category:American lesbian musicians]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ composers]]
[[Category:20th-century American classical composers]]
[[Category:21st-century American classical composers]]
[[Category:Bowling Green State University alumni]]
[[Category:Curtis Institute of Music alumni]]
[[Category:Musicians from Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Musicians from Atlanta]]
[[Category:Lesbian composers]]
[[Category:LGBTQ classical composers]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from New York (state)]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize winners]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:20th-century American women composers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women composers]]
[[Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people]]