Jennifer Higdon facts for kids
Jennifer Elaine Higdon (born December 31, 1962) is a famous American composer. She writes contemporary classical music, which is a type of music created in modern times.
Jennifer Higdon has won many important awards for her music. These include the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto. She has also won three Grammy Awards for her concertos. These were for her Percussion Concerto in 2010, Viola Concerto in 2018, and Harp Concerto in 2020. She was a professor at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1994 to 2021.
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About Jennifer Higdon
Jennifer Higdon was born in Brooklyn, New York. She lived in Atlanta, Georgia for her first 10 years. Then, her family moved to Seymour, Tennessee. Her father, Charles Higdon, was a painter. He made sure his children saw many kinds of art. He took them to art shows with new and experimental art. This helped her understand what art could be.
Jennifer also liked photography and writing when she was young. But she did not hear much classical music at home. Instead, she listened to rock and folk music from the 1960s. She started playing percussion in her high school concert band. Around the same time, she taught herself to play the flute. She used an old flute book to learn.
College and Early Music Journey
Jennifer Higdon studied flute at Bowling Green State University. Her teacher, Judith Bentley, told her to try writing music. Jennifer found it hard at first because she had not learned classical music when she was younger. She said she did not know basic music theory or how to play a chord.
She had to work very hard to catch up with other students. Even when some teachers were not encouraging, she kept going. While at Bowling Green, she wrote her first piece. It was a two-minute song for flute and piano called Night Creatures. She liked newer classical music more than older music. This was because she came to classical music in a different way than most people.
At Bowling Green, she met Robert Spano. He taught conducting and later helped share Higdon's music with orchestras.
Advanced Studies and Teaching
Jennifer Higdon earned an Artist's Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. There, she studied with David Loeb and Ned Rorem. She also taught Hilary Hahn, who later became a famous violinist. Even after some rejections, she kept working hard. She earned a Master of Arts and a PhD in composition from the University of Pennsylvania. Her teacher there was George Crumb.
From 1994 to 2021, Higdon taught composition at the Curtis Institute of Music. She was also a Composer-in-Residence for several orchestras. These included the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Jennifer Higdon lives in Philadelphia today.
Jennifer Higdon's Music
Jennifer Higdon has been asked to write music by many big symphony orchestras. Some of these include the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra. Famous conductors like Marin Alsop and Leonard Slatkin have performed her music. She has also written pieces for solo musicians. These include pianists Yuja Wang and Gary Graffman, and violinists like Hilary Hahn.
She wrote her first opera based on the book Cold Mountain. The story was made into a script by Gene Scheer. Two opera companies, The Santa Fe Opera and Opera Philadelphia, asked her to write it. It was first performed in Santa Fe in 2015.
Her music can be found on more than 48 CDs. Her most popular piece is blue cathedral. This is a one-movement tone poem. She wrote it to remember her brother. It was first played in 2000. Since then, over 400 orchestras around the world have performed it.
Selected Recordings
- Cold Mountain (world premiere). Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard, Jay Hunter Morris, Emily Fons, Robert Pomakov, The Santa Fe Opera. PENTATONE PTC 5186583 (2016)
Her Musical Style
Jennifer Higdon's music style is special because of her background. She grew up listening to popular music like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. She heard this music much more than classical music when she was young. Because of this, she says she writes music in an "intuitive" way. This means she creates music that feels right, rather than following old classical rules.
Nature also influenced her music. The mountains and open spaces of her Tennessee home helped shape her style. Her teacher, George Crumb, encouraged her to use nature as an inspiration.
Sound and Rhythm
Many of Jennifer Higdon's pieces are called neoromantic. This means they have a rich, emotional sound. Her music often uses tonal structures, which means it has a clear home key. However, she often changes keys suddenly, which can be surprising. She uses open perfect fifths and parallel fifths in many of her songs. She also uses scalar passages to add melody or harmony.
Jennifer's early experience with percussion likely affected her rhythm. Her music often has complex and detailed rhythms. This is true even when the melodies are smooth. She also uses repeated rhythmic patterns. These patterns give energy to her faster pieces. Some of her repeated rhythms and melodies can be seen as minimalist.
Vocal Works and Structure
When Jennifer Higdon writes for voices, she tries to copy how people speak. She uses speech patterns to create the melody and rhythm of her songs. She wants the music to show the mood of the words. This often makes her melodies sound more romantic. If she uses words that are not English, she often includes both the original text and its translation. This helps the music share its message more clearly.
Her music structure also shows her "intuitive" style. Her pieces often have different sections. But they flow naturally from one part to the next. Melodies often continue across bar lines, making the sections blend. Many of her works start with just a few instruments. Then, more instruments join in as the piece goes on. This creates variety and keeps the music interesting. Higdon does not plan a specific form when she composes. Instead, she lets the music develop on its own.
See also
In Spanish: Jennifer Higdon para niños
