*Sigma Alpha Iota Member

Biography

As the twenty-first century dawns and the musical offerings of the world are more varied than ever before, few composers have emerged with the unique personality of Ellen Zwilich. Her music is widely known because it is performed, recorded, broadcast, and above all, listened to and liked by all sorts of audiences the world over. Like the great masters of bygone times, Zwilich produces music "with fingerprints," music that is immediately recognized as the product of a particular American composer who combines craft and inspiration in reflecting her optimistic and humanistic spirit in her compositions.

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, four Grammy nominations, and, among other distinctions, she has been elected to the Florida Artists Hall of Fame 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. She holds the Francis Eppes Distinguished Professorship at Florida State University.

A prolific composer in virtually all media, Ellen Taaffee 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 theSymphony No. 1 that brought her instantly into international focus. Commissions and major performances and recordings soon followed" 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; and Symphony No. 4 "The Gardens" (with chorus), commissioned by Michigan State University and the subject of a PBS documentary seen nationally;' a string of concertos for solo instruments and orchestra, commissioned and performed by top orchestras - for piano (Detroit Symphony, Günther Herbig [1986]), trombone (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti [1989]), flute (Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa [1990]), oboe (Cleveland Orchestra, Cristoph von Dohnányi [1991]), violin and cello (Louisville Orchestra, Lawrence Leighton Smith [1991]), bass trombone (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim [1991]), French horn (Rochester Philharmonic, Lawrence Leighton Smith [1993]), bassoon (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Lorin Maazel [1993]), trumpet (San Diego Symphony, JoAnn Falletta [1994]), Triple Concerto for piano, violin and cello (Minnesota Orchestra, Zdenek Macal [1996]), violin (Orchestra of St. Luke's, Hugh Wolff [1998]), and Millennium Fantasy for piano (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Jesús López-Cobos [2000]).

Her orchestral essay Symbolon was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic expressly to receive its world premiere in what was then Leningrad. Zubin Mehta subsequently performed it in Europe, Asia and America and recorded it on the New World label; and Carnegie Hall's 1997 family concert series featured Peanuts® Gallery for piano and orchestra, based on Charles Schultz's Peanuts® characters.

Her 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 Carnegie Hall (String Quartet No. 2).

Many of her works have been issued on recordings, and Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians [85h edition] states:"There are not many composers in the modern world who possess the lucky combination of writing music of substance and at the same time exercising an immediate appeal to mixed audiences. Zwilich offers this happy combination of purely technical excellence and a distinct power of communication."
Upcoming projects for 2003 include a Concerto for the Irish Orchestra and the percussion, Nexus; and a work for violin and piano for Itzhak Perlman.

Further Information

• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's website at Theodore Presser Co

Contact Information

Annual Updates

2009

Zwilich marked the beginning of her 70th birthday season – featuring two major premieres, recordings, and performances of her work across the country – with the world premiere of Symphony No. 5, commissioned by the Juilliard School, and performed October 27, 2008, by the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by James Conlon at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY. The new symphony’s premiere launched a season that will conclude with the world premiere of another major work, the Septet for Piano Trio and String Quartet, performed by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Miami String Quartet at the 92nd Street Y, April 28-29, 2009. Zwilich will celebrate her 70th birthday on April 30. In addition, a disc of three of Zwilich’s works performed by artists from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is slated for release by Koch Records later this season, the Claremont Trio is releasing a new disc this winter titled American Trios which will include Zwilich’s Piano Trio, and a half-hour television program of her work Peanuts Gallery, which has been broadcast over local PBS stations nationwide almost 700 times, recently received an award from the National Educational Telecommunications Association.

PREMIERES

Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet was introduced February 10, 2008, by saxophonist Ashu and the Chicago Chamber Musicians; Ashu will give a repeat performance on March 10, 2009, assisted by the Pacifica String Quartet.

PERFORMANCES

Chamber Symphony was heard in an October 3, 2008, performance by Boston Musica Viva, directed by Richard Pittman, Boston, MA. Piano Trio was presented February 5, 2009, by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The works Images for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Millennium Fantasy for piano and orchestra, and Peanuts Gallery for piano and orchestra, will be recorded at a pair of concerts given April 2-3 by the Florida State University Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Jiminez. Quintet will be presented by alto saxophonist Erik Ronmark and the Pacifica String Quartet at an April 18 concert for the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, MI.

PUBLICATIONS

Luvn Blm, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion; Episodes, soprano saxophone and piano; Quintet, alto saxophone and string quartet; all by Merion Music/Theodore Presser.

RECORDINGS

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: Clarinet Concerto, clarinetist David Shifrin; String Quartet No. 2, the Orion Quartet; String  Trio, Ani Kavafian, Paul Neubauer, and Fred Sherry; Koch International. Piano Trio; Claremont Trio;
Trio Records.

2008

Peanuts Gallery, a half-hour PBS show featuring Zwilich’s Peanuts Gallery for piano and orchestra (based on the Charles Schulz characters) first aired in October 2006 and was rebroadcast on PBS stations after the American Masters program on Charles Schulz on October 29, 2007.

Premieres

LUVN BLM was introduced February 14, 2006, by the  EAR Unit, a Los Angeles-based new music ensemble.

Performances

American Concerto was presented April 6-8, 2006, by trumpeter Phil Smith and the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Bramwell Tovey. JoAnn Falletta led the Rotterdam Philharmonic in performances of Concerto Grosso 1985, January 18-19, 2007. Nexus Percussion and the Kansas City Philharmonic, led by Michael Stern, performed Rituals, February 16-18. Violin Concerto was heard in a February 24 performance by Danielle Maddon with the New England Philharmonic, conducted by Richard Pittman. Luciano Magnanini and the Boca Sinfonia, led by Alistair Wills, presented Bassoon Concerto on March 25.

Publications

LUVN BLM, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion; Quartet for Oboe and Strings, oboe, violin, viola, cello; Episodes, soprano saxophone and piano; all by Merion Music/Theodore Presser.