Prize-winning composer to speak at convocation

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon will be the special guest speaker for the Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts’ annual “All College Convocation” at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 10 in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center.

The Wind Symphony, directed by director of bands Dr. Bruce Moss, will perform Higdon’s “Fanfare Ritmico” (cq) on the afternoon program.

As part of the college’s events honoring the University’s yearlong centennial celebration, Higdon will also spend time with composition students during her visit.

This past spring, Higdon received her second Grammy Award when her “Percussion Concerto” was named Best Classical Contemporary Composition. In addition, she received the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her “Violin Concerto.” She was also selected as one of the University’s top 100 alumni for the Centennial Alumni Awards at the April event on campus.

After graduating from BGSU in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in flute performance, Higdon received master's and doctoral degrees in composition from the University of Pennsylvania and an artist diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she is now on the composition faculty. Her work has been commissioned and performed by orchestras across the country, and she has received many prestigious awards and fellowships.

Her teachers at Bowling Green included Dr. Marilyn Shrude, Dr. Burton Beerman, Dr. Wallace DePue, Judith Bentley and Robert Spano, who directed the Bowling Green Philharmonia from 1985-89.

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Editor’s Note: Journalists wishing to interview Higdon may contact Bonnie Blankinship, Marketing and Communications, at 419-372-2618 or bblanki@bgsu.edu.

(Posted September 08, 2010 )