Jennifer Higdon Composing in Color

Renowned composer Jennifer Higdon is best known for her symphonic pieces blue cathedral, Concerto for Orchestra, City Scape, Concerto 4-3 and Violin Concerto (2010 Pulitzer Prize). These compositions illustrate her breadth of style and avant-garde technique. The author examines these works—with commentary by Higdon—as well as the music of her first opera, with a focus on compositional history, musical characteristics, formal analysis and critical reception.

Christina L. Reitz is an associate professor of music at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Her research on Jennifer Higdon has been published in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, the International Alliance for Women in Music Journal, and the North Carolina Literary Review.