The
composer of the month for March is Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Considered
to be one of America’s leading composers, Dr. Zwilich was
born in Miami, Florida in 1939. She earned both Bachelor’s
and Master’s degrees in music from Florida State University.
After graduation, she headed for New York, where she played violin
in the American Symphony Orchestra. She eventually enrolled at The
Julliard School and became the first woman to earn a Doctor of Musical
Arts in Composition. Once her compositions began to be performed,
she was able to make her living exclusively from composition. She
was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Composition in 1983 for her First
Symphony, the first woman to receive that honor. She has also been
nominated for 4 Grammys, been awarded an Academy Award from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters, been elected to the Florida
Artists Hall of Fame, designated Musical America’s Composer
of the Year for 1999, and earned numerous other awards and prizes.
Today, she lives in New York City, where she continues to compose.
The
composer of the month for March is Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Considered
to be one of America’s leading composers, Dr. Zwilich was
born in Miami, Florida in 1939. She earned both Bachelor’s
and Master’s degrees in music from Florida State University.
After graduation, she headed for New York, where she played violin
in the American Symphony Orchestra. She eventually enrolled at The
Julliard School and became the first woman to earn a Doctor of Musical
Arts in Composition. Once her compositions began to be performed,
she was able to make her living exclusively from composition. She
was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Composition in 1983 for her First
Symphony, the first woman to receive that honor. She has also been
nominated for 4 Grammys, been awarded an Academy Award from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters, been elected to the Florida
Artists Hall of Fame, designated Musical America’s Composer
of the Year for 1999, and earned numerous other awards and prizes.
Today, she lives in New York City, where she continues to compose.