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A Philadelphia Favorite: Composer Jennifer Higdon

Composer Jennifer Higdon with Beau.
Candace diCarlo
Composer Jennifer Higdon with Beau.

Philadelphia’s Jennifer Higdon is among the most-frequently performed living American composers. Her works have been performed around the world and recorded on dozens of CDs. Higdon received a Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2010 for her Violin Concerto, a composition written for violinist Hilary Hahn and first performed by Hahn and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 2009. 

http://youtu.be/z4X8uZAwrQY

The prolific Higdon is in the process of adding an opera to her extensive repertoire. The joint commission of The Santa Fe Opera and Opera Philadelphia is based on Charles Frazier’s Civil War novel Cold Mountain. It's scheduled to open in Santa Fe in 2015, followed by an East Coast premiere at the Academy of Music in February 2016. 

Higdon1MDLF.mp3
The Philadelphia Inquirer's David Patrick Stearns considers Jennifer Higdon's early development as a composer.
Higdon2MDLF.mp3
Jim Cotter explores how Philadelphia has influenced Jennifer Higdon's career.