“A Song for Ruth,” a 12-minute documentary video about Ellen’s work Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg, features interviews with Ellen, poet Lauren Watel, and pianist Jeffrey Biegel.
The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas/Fort Worth NBC affiliate previewed the October 7 premiere of Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg with features that included interviews with the event’s principals, including Ellen. As NBCDFW quoted, “‘Act II is about all she tried to do to change things,’ Zwilich said. ‘She stopped knocking on bolted doors and started knocking them down. It’s all very active, getting rid of the dropped ceilings, the bolted doors and then helping women down from the pedestals.’”
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra hosted a Zoom talk with Ellen, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, and pianist Jeffrey Biegel about the upcoming October 7 premiere of Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg. DSO VP of Artistic Operations Katie McGuinness leads the conversation about Jeffrey Biegel’s inspiration for the work, the text by Lauren Watel and how Ellen shaped the piece, and Denyce Graves’s friendship with Justice Ginsburg.
On October 13, 1990, much to Ellen’s amazement, the Peanuts cartoon strip was all about her. Ellen became good friends with Charles and Jean Schulz, and in 1997 Ellen wrote the piano concerto Peanuts Gallery inspired by the iconic Peanuts gang.
The strip that inspired it all is currently on view at the Charles M. Schulz Museum’s Strip Rotation Gallery, through November 8, along with its story:
“Charles M. Schulz referenced many empowered women in the Peanuts comic strip, including Billie Jean King, Farrah Fawcett, Cheryl Tiegs, and Peggy Fleming. One inspiration for two strips, a daily strip and a Sunday strip both on display in this exhibition, was Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman composer to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Music. Born in 1939 in Miami, Florida, Zwilich attended The Juilliard School for music in 1975, and was also the first woman ever to receive a degree in Doctor of Musical Arts.
“Schulz heard about Zwilich through The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour in 1990 and incorporated her into a Peanuts comic strip on October 13, 1990, which can be seen in this exhibition and on the back of this handout. The initial strip led to a friendship between the two, and in 1997 Zwilich composed a 13-minute piano concerto inspired by the Peanuts Gang.”
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.
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).
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.
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: 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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.
“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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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.