BMI Celebrates the 69th Annual Student Composer Awards

BMI and the BMI Foundation yesterday announced the six young classical composers, ages 18-27, who are the winners of the 69th annual BMI Student Composer Awards, as well as two who received honorable mentions. The awards recognize exceptional musical talent and potential, and include annual educational scholarships totaling $20,000.

The winners: Micangelo Ferrante, Elizabeth Gartman, Grey Grant, Lara Poe, Nicholas Denton Protsack, and Elliot Roman. Lucy Chen and Sofia Ouyang received honorable mentions.

Ellen is permanent chair of the annual competition, and this year’s finals judges were John Adams, Daniel Roumain, Kristin Kuster, and Sean Shepherd.

Read more, and hear the winning compositions, here.

Ellen 's final pre-concert talk at Santa Rosa: Writing her concerto honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg, friendship with Charles Schulz, predictions for concert life

In the final pre-concert talk this spring with Santa Rosa Symphony Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong, Ellen talks about writing the work honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg that will premiere in October; what she aimed for in composing Peanuts Gallery, her work for young listeners; her friendship with Charles Schulz; and what she foresees in concert life post-pandemic.

Watch the pre-concert talk here (the segment with Ellen begins around 14:00).

Ellen talks about the violin with Francesco Lecce-Chong before the performance of her Romance by Santa Rosa Symphony

The Santa Rosa Symphony’s April 25 concert featured Ellen’s Romance for Violin and Orchestra. In the pre-concert talk, Ellen spoke with Santa Rosa Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong about her favorites among the violin giants of the 20th century, at around the 24:!5 mark in the YouTube video.

Concerto for Cello and Orchestra featured in The Violin Channel's "New Music Tuesday"

Ellen’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra is the featured work in The Violin Channel’s “New Music Tuesday” on April 20, 2021. A video excerpt of the performance by Zuill Bailey and the Santa Rosa Symphony conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong is included - see the feature here.

Northern California Public Media TV Airs Santa Rosa Symphony Concert Featuring Cello Concerto

Northern California Public Media: Monday, April 19 at 7:30 pm on KPJK TV in the South Bay. Also airing on KRCB TV in the North Bay on Sunday, April 18 at 8pm. Santa Rosa Symphony on stage with charismatic conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong and Grammy award-winning cellist Zuill Bailey performing cello concerto by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman to win the Pulitzer prize for music.

See program page here.

Ellen's Cello Concerto, Full Orchestral Version Performed by Zuill Bailey & Santa Rosa Symphony, Streamed Online

Ellen’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, the full orchestral version, was featured in the Santa Rosa Symphony’s ”SRS @Home” concert in March, a performance with soloist Zuill Bailey conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong. The program also featured music by Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, and Jessie Montgomery. One of the concerts that the orchestra is streaming on YouTube, it is part of the Santa Rosa Symphony’s artistic partnership with Ellen this spring.

In a brief talk about the piece with Francesco Lecce-Chong before the concerto’s performance, Ellen talks about her love of the cello and its range: “the cello has an operatic voice … it is like an opera singer.”

You can watch the pre-concert talk here.

Ellen to write a work honoring the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has announced that it will present the world premiere of a new work by Ellen honoring the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on October 7, 2021, at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center as a part of its 2021-22 season. Zwilich’s music will include texts by Lauren K. Watel and will be performed by GRAMMY® Award-winning Mezzo-Soprano Denyce Graves and pianist Jeffrey Biegel. Tickets will go on sale this summer at dallassymphony.org.

Denyce Graves, one of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s favorite singers, sang at Justice Ginsburg’s memorial at the Capitol in September 2020.

Read the Dallas Symphony press release here.

"CONTEMPORARY VOICES" CD WINS A GRAMMY

The Pacifica Quartet’s recording Contemporary Voices, showcasing works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Shulamit Ran and Jennifer Higdon, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet, a Cedille Records release, has won the 2021 Grammy Award in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category, it was announced this afternoon during the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony.

Read more about the recording on the Cedille Records website.

Ellen is interviewed by conductor Harold Rosenbaum for "The Choral Connection"

Conductor Harold Rosenbaum interviews Ellen for his interview series “The Choral Connection.” In the course of the half-hour interview, Ellen talks about the “mystery” of conducting, her first lessons with Roger Sessions, her friendship with Elliott Carter, and advice for composers: “it’s not a straight line.”

Watch the interview here.

WRUU "Contemporary Classics" interview includes three full works

Dave Lake of WRUU, Savannah, GA, on February 9 aired a two-hour interview with Ellen that includes three full works: the Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet (performed by the Pacifica Quartet and Otis Murphy, from the Grammy-nominated Cedille recording); the Quintet for Violin, Viola, Cello, Contrabass, and Piano (performed by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, Michael Tree, and Harold Robinson from the Azica recording); and the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (performed by Pamela Frank with Michael Stern leading the Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra from the Naxos recording). They talk about each of the works as well.

Listen to the full program here.

"Ellen Taaffe Zwilich Shines On Brightly" - San Francisco Classical Voice Interview

“We don’t know what music is, but for me, it’s the entire human, the brains, the heart, the soul, the guts. It should make you want to sing and dance. It’s sorrow and joy and everything we have as humans.”

Read the interview with Ellen on San Francisco Classical Voice, posted February 9, 2021, pegged to her post as Artistic Partner with the Santa Rosa Symphony in Spring 2021.

Buffalo Philharmonic and JoAnn Falletta perform Prologue and Variations - Available to Stream until March 11

The Buffalo Philharmonic’s virtual concert “Dreams, Dances & Variations” led by Music Director JoAnn Falletta features a performance of Ellen’s Prologue and Variations. “The program … celebrates the ground-breaking achievements of Zwilich, the first female to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.” It also includes music by Joseph Bologne de Saint-Georges, Debussy, and Mozart.

The program is available to purchase online until March 11, 2021. Buy tickets here.

Ellen's Cello Concerto Chamber Version Premiere Performed by Zuill Bailey - Available Until February 6

The world premiere of the chamber version of Ellen’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra is featured on the Boulder Philharmonic’s “Zuill and Zwilich” online concert, available to view through February 6.

“Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s new concerto, written for Zuill Bailey, is full of playful jazz and pop influences. We’re pleased to present the premiere of a chamber-sized revision of the concerto, mirroring the instrumentation of one of the great chamber works in the repertoire, Schubert’s Trout Quintet.”

The performance took place in an airplane hangar!

Buy the program here.

Ellen is the Santa Rosa Symphony's Artistic Partner January - May 2021

The Santa Rosa Symphony has announced Ellen as Artistic Partner in the second half of the 2020-21 season:

“During the remainder of the 2020-2021 season, Francesco and SRS orchestra musicians, observing all health and safety protocols, will perform on the Weill Hall stage for five more enhanced concert experiences, recorded for streaming on YouTube.

“The Symphony welcomes legendary composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich as its Artistic Partner. The first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music (1983), Zwilich is a prolific composer whose works, which enjoy a wide appeal with their unique signature style, have been performed by most of the leading American orchestras and Internationally by major ensembles. Her list of awards is heady and long, and includes two Grammy nominations. Each of the upcoming five SRS @ Home concerts features a Zwilich work, including her beloved Peanuts Gallery in our season-ending finale. In addition, she brings her vision, expertise and experience, as she takes an active role with the orchestra, Francesco and the community over the course of the season.”

Ellen and SRS Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong talk about the partnership and the five works to be performed on the spring programs in two videos on the SRS site - watch here.

Here are the works to be performed; click on the dates for full program information:

January 24, 2021 - Concerto Grosso for Chamber Orchestra

February 28, 2021 - Prologue and Variations for String Orchestra

March 28, 2021 - Concerto for Cello and Orchestra with guest soloist Zuill Bailey

April 28, 2021 - Romance for Violin and Orchestra with guest soloist Joseph Edelberg

May 16, 2021 - Peanuts Gallery for Piano and Orchestra

Ellen's Concerto Grosso and interview with Marin Alsop featured in "BSO Sessions" online event premiering Dec. 2

In the December 2 installment of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s “BSO Sessions” series of online events, Marin Alsop, in her final season as Music Director, takes a retrospective look at her historic journey with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra over the past 14 years. The program features three composers’ approach to evoking an earlier musical era with Prokofiev's "Classical" Symphony, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Concerto Grosso 1985, and Adolphus Hailstork's Baroque Suite.

In addition to the performances, the program features an interview by Marin Alsop with Ellen.

The event is available here from December 2 through June 2021.

GRAMMY NOMINATION FOR "CONTEMPORARY VOICES" CD

The Pacifica Quartet’s recording Contemporary Voices, featuring Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet as well as works by Jennifer Higdon and Shulamit Ran, has been nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award in the “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance” category.

See the full list of nominations here.

"A LITTLE VIOLIN MUSIC IN MEMORY OF ELIJAH MCCLAIN" PERFORMED BY KELLY HALL-TOMPKINS

During a webinar titled “The Time is Now: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Music” presented by the University of Rochester on October 8, 2020, violinist and Eastman School of Music alumna Kelly Hall-Tompkins performed the world premiere of A Little Violin Music in Memory of Elijah McClain, which Ellen wrote for Kelly this past summer.

You can see the performance on YouTube here.

Forgotten Voices, a song cycle commissioned by Kelly’s organization Music Kitchen featuring contributions by 15 composers including Ellen, was to have its premiere presented by Carnegie Hall last May; the performance will take place at a future date to be announced. The mission of Music Kitchen is “to bring top emerging and established professional musicians together in order to share the inspirational, therapeutic, and uplifting power of music with New York City’s disenfranchised homeless shelter population.”

ZUILL BAILEY TO PREMIERE THE CELLO CONCERTO CHAMBER VERSION WITH BOULDER PHILHARMONIC, JAN. 23, 2021

Cellist Zuill Bailey, who performed the world premiere of Ellen’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra to rave reviews with the South Florida Symphony Orchestra in March, will premiere the chamber version of the concerto with members of the Boulder Philharmonic and Michael Butterman, conductor, in an online event scheduled for January 23, 2021.

Read more and buy tickets on the Boulder Philharmonic’s event page here.

BBC Music Magazine reviews Pacifica Quartet "Contemporary Voices" CD

BBC Music Magazine’s review of the Pacifica Quartet release Contemporary Voices in its October 2020 issue includes this praise: “Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet (2007) is a superb addition to the slim repertoire, masterfully executed here by the Pacifica Quartet and Otis Murphy, professor of saxophone at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where the string players are artists in residence. The three-movement work begins by blending the string and sax timbres, before the parts develop independence; the saxophone’s gentle cantabile solos culminate in a thrilling virtuosic display.”

Read the full review, by Claire Jackson, here.

Rave reviews for Pacifica Quartet disc featuring Ellen's Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet

Reviews are appearing for the Pacifica Quartet’s new recording, “Contemporary Voices,” featuring Ellen’s Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet with works by Jennifer Higdon and Shulamit Ran. Among these:

Zwilich’s Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet, the featured score on the Pacifica Quartet’s new album “Contemporary Voices,” continues her exploration of America’s most original art form in a classical setting. The 2007 work is typically concise with three movements spanning just 17 minutes. Still Zwilich’s penchant for unexpected thematic incident and inspired melodic paths pervades every bar in a voice both accessible and thoroughly contemporary.

                                                   -Lawrence Budmen, South Florida Classical Review, July 28, 2020

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s 2007 Quintet for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet…effortlessly blends the spiky rhythms of the massed strings with the slinky smoothness of [the] alto sax. …echoes of Stravinsky and Milhaud laced with a sassy, post-minimalist vibe….

                                                   -Clive Paget, Musical America, July 23, 2020