CONWAY, Ark. (February 13, 2013) - The Hendrix College Department of Music will host Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon for a presentation and workshop Friday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m. in Reves Recital Hall.
One of the most performed living American composers working today, Higdon's list of commissioner's range from the Cleveland Orchestra to the Philadelphia Orchestra; from eighth blackbird to the Tokyo String Quartet; and from The President's Own Marine Band to such artists as Hilary Hahn. Higdon received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, with the committee citing Higdon's work as a "deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity." She has also received awards from the Serge Koussevitzky Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Meet-the-Composer, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and ASCAP. In January, 2010, Higdon received a GRAMMY for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto. She holds the Rock Chair in Composition at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Higdon will present some of her music, discuss having a career in composition, and then have a dialogue with the students about a variety of subjects related to the world of classical music, working with orchestras, working with small ensembles, how to get commissions, entering competitions, schooling for composition, etc.
Her workshop and presentation at Hendrix is free and open to the public. The event is timed to allow students from Conway High School, University of Central Arkansas and those who live and work in the community to attend and participate. For more information, contact Hendrix music professor Dr. Karen Griebling at griebling@hendrix.edu or 501-450-1249.
Higdon is participating in a residency next week with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO) as Composer of the Year. Higdon's music is being featured throughout the ASO's 2012-2013 season, and in particular, her Concerto Orchestra will be performed by the ASO on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 24 at 3 p.m. at Robinson Center Music Hall and additional works will be performed at the ASO's River Rhapsodies Chamber Series on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. in the Clinton Library. Paired with Higdon's work on these concerts will be music by Shostakovich and Samuel Barber. For more information contact the Arkansas Symphony at 501 666 1761 or www.arkansassymphony.org.
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences education. For the fifth consecutive year, Hendrix was named one of the country's "Up and Coming" liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix is featured in the 2012 edition of the Princeton Review as one of the country's best 377 colleges, the latest edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges, Forbes magazine's annual list of America's Top 650 Colleges, and the 2013 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.