****Sigma Alpha Iota Honorary Member

Biography

Internationally-recognized composer with an impressive catalogue of close to 100 works, many of which are prize-winning compositions. Her many composition awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship (1983-84); Maryland State Arts Council creative fellowship (1986-87); and commission grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (1982) and Minnesota Composers Forum (1993). Her orchestral music has been repeatedly recognized through prizes: First Prize - Gold Medal in the Gottschalk Centenary International Composition Competition (1972); First Prize in the Chamber Orchestra Composition contest to honor the Statue of Liberty Centennial (1986); and First Prize in the international 1995 McCollin Competition for Composers (for Symphony No. 1, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1996). She was Composer of the Year at Alabama University (1994), Featured Composer at the 1995 Society of Composers International American meeting, and Filene Artist-in-Residence for the 1996-97 year at Skidmore College. Her composition, Doubles for Oboe and Piano was recently named to Chamber Music America's "The Century List", and she also received a Millennium Commission from that organization for a string trio to be premiered at Walker Art Gallery in April 2000.

Zaimont's works are frequently played in the United States (Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center) and abroad; they are published (Galaxy/ ECS, Peters, Broude, Sounds Alive!, Vivace, Walton) and recorded (Arabesque, Leonarda, Northeastern). Her music is the subject of nine doctoral dissertations, and several of her works serve as repertoire for performance competitions. Her biography is found in most standard reference works, and she is the subject both of individual chapters in specialist volumes and major articles in professional journals.

She is also creator and editor-in-chief of the critically acclaimed book series, The Musical Woman: An International Perspective (3 vols., Greenwood Press). For this, she received a research grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (1989), and the 1993 First Prize in the international musicology awards, the Pauline Alderman Prizes.

Formerly a member of the faculties of Queens College and Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she was named "Teacher of the Year" in 1985, Judith Zaimont is a distinguished teacher, and held the post of Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Department at Adelphi University from 1989-91. Since 1992 Zaimont has been Professor of Composition at the University of Minnesota School of Music where she chairs the Theory/Composition Division.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in a musical family in New York, Zaimont holds degrees from Queens College of the City University of New York and Columbia University. She studied composition with Hugo Weisgall, Otto Luening and Jack Beeson. After receiving her Master's Degree, Zaimont studied orchestration in Paris, on a Debussy Fellowship from the Alliance Française de New York, with André Jolivet.

Further Information
Articles/Essays, Honors, Doctoral Papers on Zaimont Works, and Residencies

Further information on Judith Lang Zaimont, including a discography and annotated list of works, may be found at the composer's website

Contact Information

E-mail: judithlangzaimont@gmail.com 

Annual Updates

2009

In January 2008, the composer was signed to an exclusive publishing agreement by Subito Music Corporation . She has been invited to be the principal guest composer for two music festivals in March 2009: “New York Women Composers,” Eastman School of Music, NY; and the “Athena Festival,” March 2-9, Murray State University, KY.  “Housewife”, a new movement from Life Cycle, a suite for women’s voices for SSAA and piano commissioned by The Eastman School of Music, will be introduced at the school’s “Festival of Women Composers” in March 2009. The composer had two new essays published, “Embracing New Music,” American Music Teacher (MTNA), August/September 2008, and “Imaging the Composer Today,” an overview of the emotional payoffs, artistic decisions and fulfillments, and economic perils that characterize the career of concert-music composers in the 21st century, which will be published in the Fall 2009 edition of Symposium, volume 47, a publication of The College Music Society.

PREMIERES

Pianist Nicola Melville introduced the commisioned work Hitchin’ – a travellin’ groove, March 2008, St. Olaf College. Organist Carson Cooman included Serenade for violin and organ on his autumn 2008 tour. The Spirit Moves in Me, a commissioned work of three movements for SATB, piano, percussion, and string quartet, was introduced April 26 by the New York (NY) Virtuoso Singers and Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Harold Rosenbaum. Stillness: Poem for Orchestra, was first heard in Arizona June 1, in a performance by the Musica Nova Orchestra, led by Warren Cohen. Solar Traveller: Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra, was first heard in a series of performances by members of the commissioning consortium: Harlan Parker, Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, MD; Gregg Hanson, University of Arizona, Tucson; Craig Kirchoff, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Mark Scatterday, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY; Terry Austin, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond; Nanette Kaplan Solomon, Slippery Rock (PA) University; Frank Wickes, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Paula Holcomb, SUNY-Fredonia; and John Boyd, Indiana State University Wind Orchestra.

PERFORMANCES

The concert band work City Rain received multiple performances: November 1, 2007, Ithaca (NY) College Concert Band; February 19, 2008, Concordia Cobber Band, Fifth Annual Composers Concert, Concordia College, MN; March 6, Anoka-Ramsey Community College Concert Band, MN; April, University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus band, under the direction of Doug Bush; May 8, University of New Hampshire Concert Band led by Casey Goodwin, Durham, NH; Kettle Moraine High School Band, WI; and Lake View High School, Chicago, IL, performances at their school and at the May Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, IL. Israeli Rhapsody for concert band was heard in performance February 6-7, 2008, Intercollegiate Honor Band, Virginia; and March 19, by the Intercollegiate Honor Band, Minnesota. Elegy for Symphonic Strings was presented April 20 in Beijing, China, during the IAWM International Congress.

PUBLICATIONS

String Quartet - The Figure; Rememberance (text assemblage: Zaimont), SSAATTBB, choral soli, organ, percussion, cello, cor anglais; Serenade, violin, cello, and piano; Hitchin’ – a travellin’ groove, piano; Serenade, violin and organ; The Spirit Moves in Me, SATB, piano, percussion, and string quartet; Stillness (Poem for Orchestra); Solar Traveller, Concerto for piano and wind orchestra; all by Subito Music Corp. Astral, alto sax version; Doubles, soprano sax and piano; Music for Two: Five-Movement Suite, for two instruments of like register, both treble and bass clef, strings, winds or brass; Lazy Beguine and Reflective Rag, both for Society Orchestra; all by Jeanné, Inc.

RECORDINGS

Hitchin’ – a travellin’ groove, pianist Nicola Melville; Innova Records (American Composers Forum). Parallel Play; Presidio Saxophone Quartet; AUR Recordings.

2008

Judith Zaimont was recently featured in the summer 2007 issue of Clavier with an article/interview on A Calendar Set, including a reprint of “July – The Glorious Fourth!” The IAWM (International Alliance for Women in Music) Journal published Zaimont’s essay titled “Imaging the Composer Today” in August 2007. The composer announces the following current and recent doctoral papers concerning her work: “Zaimont’s Piano Music: WIZARDS and Jupiter’s Moons,” Janet Norman (Arizona State University); “Zaimont’s approach to the Piano – music for differing technical levels: Jupiter’s Moons and In My Lunchbox,” Rebecca Pennington (University of Kansas); “Veriditas: Enlivened Creativity in selected works of Judith Zaimont, Libby Larsen, and Juliana Hall,” Sharon Johnson (University of Minnesota). Articles recently posted on the internet include “The Role of the Piano in Selected Chamber Works of Judith Lang Zaimont,” Jennifer Muñiz and “The Compositional Style of Judith Lang Zaimont as found in Nattens Monolog (Night Soliloquy), scena for Soprano and Piano with text by Dag Hammarskjold,” Joo Wun Jun. Recent residencies include a Masterclass for the Graduate Composers Symposium, Arizona State University, February 2007; principal composer at a conference on “Gender, Justice, Equality,” September 13-17, Syracuse (NY) University; and commissioned composer for “Meet The Composer,” Portland (OR) Symphonic Choir, through October 2007.

Premieres

Israeli Rhapsody for concert band (a Kaplan Fund commission) was introduced March 2007 at St Mary’s University, Winona, MN. The Harlem Quartet presented String Quartet: The Figure on September 15 at Syracuse University, September 16 at the Eastman School, and September 17 at CornellUniversity. Hitchin’: a travellin’ groove for piano solo was presented by Nicola Melville on September 28, Carleton College, MN. Rememberance, an oratorio commissioned by the Portland (OR) Symphonic Choir for SATB choir, soprano, tenor, and mezzo-soprano soloists, English horn, cello, organ, and percussion, was premiered by the organization September 28-29. The Spirit Moves in Me, a commission from the Foundation for Universal Sacred Music for SATB choir, choral soloists, 2 violins, 2 cellos, piano, and percussion, will receive its premiere performance in March 2008, New York, NY.

Publications

Israeli Rhapsody, concert band; MMB. Lazy Beguine, society orchestra; Reflective Rag, arr. society orchestra; Bubble-Up Rag and Reflective Rag, both for flute and piano; Elegy (third movement of mixed quintet “ ... 3:4, 5 ...”), transcribed for oboe, clarinet and piano; Music for Two, transcribed for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, flute and violin, flute and oboe, clarinet and alto saxophone, flute and clarinet, 2 bassoons, 2 cellos, or 2 trombones; all by Jeanné, Inc. A Calendar Set: 12 Preludes, piano solo; Jabez Press, Ft. Worth, TX.

Recordings

Prestidigitations – Contemporary Concert Rags by J L Zaimont contains Bubble-Up Rag, Reflective Rag, Lazy Beguine, Judy’s Rag, ‘Hesitation’ Rag, Snazzy Sonata, and Serenade, for piano solo, flute and piano duo, society orchestra, and orchestra; MSR Classics.

2007

Judith Lang Zaimont was awarded the 2005 Kaplan Foundation Biennial Commission to compose a work for wind ensemble on Jewish themes. She was also awarded First Prize in the American Composers Invitational Competition in November for A Calendar Set: 12 Preludes for Piano. A Calendar Set was composed between 1972 and 1978 and has been played in many countries on three continents. It has been heard world-wide on Voice of America, recorded twice (Gary Steigerwalt on a Leonarda LP 101 and Joanne Polk on Arabesque CD Z6683); used as part of the background score for a PBS documentary; and two of its movements are teaching pieces in the Silver Burdett Ginn music appreciation classroom music book/teaching package series. Zaimont gave the hour-long Composer Keynote Address at the National Conference on Women and the Arts, University of Missouri-St. Louis, titled “Progress, Conscience, Imagination: Riding the Tide of New Notes,” on November 12. An edited version of her address was published in the December 14 issue of NewMusicBox as “Composer: Living American Woman.” Visit the composer’s website at www.jzaimont.com.

Premieres

The commissioned work Symphony for Wind Orchestra in Three Scenes was introduced April 6, 2006, by the Trinity College of Music Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Roger Montgomery, Blackheath Halls, Greenwich, London, England. The New York Miniaturist Ensemble presented Verse, for solo violin, April 15 in New York, NY. Israeli Rhapsody for concert band, a commissioned work for the Kaplan Foundation, is scheduled to premiere in March 2007 at St. Mary’s College, Winona, MN.

Performances

Throughout September 2005, Judy’s Rag was used in a Theatreworks stage production of “Intimate Apparel,” in Palo Alto, CA. The Presidio Saxophone Quartet presented regional and state premieres of the saxophone quartet Parallel Play in October, and February-March 2006, including a performance at the National Saxophone Convention in Iowa, and a performance at the Phoenix Art Museum for “New Music Arizona.” The work received a further performance from the Premiere Saxophone Quartet, in San Jose, CA.

Publications

Valse Romantique, flute solo; by Jeanné, Inc. A Calendar Set: 12 Preludes for Piano; by Jabez Press.

Recordings

A CD of ragtime-based compositions was recorded in San Francisco in October 2006; included were performances of three new transcriptions for the American Ragtime Ensemble, directed by David Reffkin.