NEW YORK TIMES
She has created a handful of exquisitely honed works in a variety of mediums from string trio to symphony. She writes in an idiosyncratic style that, without ostentation or gimmickry, is always recognizably hers.
-Tim Page
TIME MAGAZINE
[Ellen Zwilich has] for some time been regarded by fellow professionals as an important contemporary composer. Now audiences are catching on too.
-Michael Walsh
THE INDEPENDENT
The Ellen Zwilich piece was like a sip of water from a mountain stream, clear and refreshing… It has a kind of minimalist feel about it, without that school’s sometimes daunting austerity. I would truly like to hear it again, and again…
-Gerald Carpenter
NewMusicBox
A game involving lists of nine “desert island” symphonies has been making the rounds on Facebook this week…. Basically the challenge is to come up with a list of nine symphonies by nine different composers…. Since we’re New Music USA after all, I thought I’d further up the ante with a list devoted exclusively to works by American composers.
… I’m reserving this [No. 1] slot for Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s first symphony from 1982, which was the first composition by a female composer to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music (1983). The stickler’s may cry foul here since ETZ originally titled the work “Three Movements for Orchestra.” Well, tough…
-Frank J. Oteri
BOSTON GLOBE
Zwilich’s most striking gift – the ability to express lyrical enchantment without sounding at all glib or derivative or retrograde in the doing. It is music with a soundly argued quality, steeped in a craftsmanship one instinctively trusts.
-Richard Buel
music & letters
…her works have an immediate appeal and are intriguing, challenging and original.
-Rhian Samuel
MINNEAPOLIS STar tribune
[A] musical mind of originality, skill and versatility. The special rhythmic energy of her music combines with a concern for large-scale structure, pungent orchestral colors and a uniquely idiomatic flair for instrumental writing.
-MICHAEL ANTHONY
Cincinnati.com
Zwilich’s music is distinctive not only for its superb craftsmanship, but also for its wit, lyricism and sheer beauty, making it immediately appealing to listeners.