Higdon: blue cathedral — Spartanburg Philharmonic

Surprising though it might be to read, the art of composing is thriving in America today. In recent years a wide and diverse array of compositional voices has bridged the gap that had developed between living composers and concertgoing audiences during the decades after WWII, and music lovers have thrilled to the melody and emotional directness they encounter in so many of today’s younger composers.

There can be no doubt that Jennifer Higdon has been driving that trend for some years now. A child of the South (Georgia and Tennessee), Higdon arrived at her vocation through the paths of singing folk and rock music and playing flute in her school music programs. She eventually found her way to Philadelphia, where she completed her studies at the University of Pennsylvania and, eventually, chaired the Composition department at the Curtis Institute of Music. A Pulitzer and three Grammy Awards are among her many honors; her music’s pairing of a wide-ranging, post-avant-garde tonal and textural palette with singable melodies and directly emotional harmonies has made her a favorite of audiences and critics alike.

Biography for Jennifer Higdon:

Jennifer Higdon is one of America’s most acclaimed figures in contemporary classical music, receiving the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, a 2010 Grammy for her Percussion Concerto, a 2018 Grammy for her Viola Concerto and a 2020 Grammy for her Harp Concerto. In 2018, Higdon received the prestigious Nemmers Prize from Northwestern University which is awarded to contemporary classical composers of exceptional achievement who have significantly influenced the field of composition. Most recently, she was inducted into the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters. Higdon enjoys several hundred performances a year of her works, and blue cathedral is today’s most performed contemporary orchestral work, with more than 700 performances worldwide. Her works have been recorded on more than sixty CDs. Higdon’s first opera, Cold Mountain, won the International Opera Award for Best World Premiere and the opera recording was nominated for 2 Grammy awards. Her music is published exclusively by Lawdon Press.

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Chris Vaneman is the Director of the Petrie School of Music and Associate Professor of Flute at Converse College. Chris frequently leads the Spartanburg Philharmonic pre-concert lecture series “Classical Conversations,” and occasionally performs as a substitute flutist in the orchestra.