Jennifer HigdonOn a Wire (2010) for sextet and orchestra
Jennifer Higdon is one of the most performed living American composers working today. She is the recipient of many awards, including a Pew Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, two awards from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto. Her list of commissioners range from the Philadelphia Orchestra to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; from eighth blackbird to the Tokyo String Quartet; and from The President’s Own Marine Band to such artists as Hilary Hahn. She holds the Rock Chair in Composition at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. For more info, see www.jenniferhigdon.com
The composer writes:
"Composing a concerto for one soloist and orchestra is a bit of a balancing act…so imagine throwing in five more soloists. On a Wire is eighth blackbird’s high‐wire‐act of a concerto. Having already written two chamber works for this group, I am familiar with their ability to do all sorts of cool things on their instruments, from extended techniques, to complex patterns, to exquisitely controlled lyrical lines. I also admire the pure joy that emanates from their playing, no matter the repertoire. Written as a one‐movement work, it highlights the group as an ensemble, allows each member to solo, and utilizes some of their unique staging: the players move about and perform beyond their respective primary instruments (the work begins with bowed piano). So imagine 6 blackbirds, sitting on a wire…"
On a Wire was commissioned by The Atlanta Symphony, The Akron Symphony, The Cincinnati Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Toronto Symphony, West Michigan Symphony, The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts with the Vermont Symphony, and The Cabrillo Festival. eighth blackbird premiered the work with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in June 2010.
Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) maintains a full schedule of commissions and her music is known for its technical skill and audience appeal. Hailed by The Washington Post as "a savvy, sensitive composer with a keen ear, an innate sense of form and a generous dash of pure esprit," she is one of America's most frequently performed composers.
Higdon's list of commissioners is extensive and includes The Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Oregon Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, pianist Gary Graffman, Tokyo String Quartet, and eighth blackbird. For the 2007-08 season, The Philadelphia Orchestra featured two commissioned concerts from Higdon during its American Music Festival. One of the commissioned works, The Singing Rooms, is scored for orchestra, solo violin (Jennifer Koh), and chorus; the other work, entitled Concerto 4-3, was written for the bluegrass trio Time for Three and orchestra. For the 2008-09 season, Higdon has written a violin concerto for Hilary Hahn to be premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Curtis Institute Symphony Orchestra.
She has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts & Letters (two awards), the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Meet-the-Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and ASCAP. In addition, she has received grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Jennifer has been a Featured Composer at festivals including Tanglewood, Vail, Norfolk, Winnipeg, and Cabrillo. She has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (2005-06 season), the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra (2006-07 season), and the Philadelphia Orchestra (2007-08 season). In 2007-08, Higdon was honored to be the Composer-in-Residence at the Mannes College The New School for Music.
Ms. Higdon enjoys more than two hundred performances a year of her works. Her orchestral work blue cathedral is one of the most performed contemporary orchestral works in the United States, having been programmed by more than 150 orchestras since its premiere in 2000.
Higdon's other works have also been performed extensively in the United States and abroad, including performances at the White House, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and by orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Cincinnati Symphony.
In spring of 2003, Telarc released blue cathedral by the Atlanta Symphony (Robert Spano, conducting) on a disc that made the Classical Billboard charts. In 2004, the Atlanta Symphony released the recording Higdon: Concerto for Orchestra / City Scape, which won a GrammyTM award in 2005. In fall of 2006, NAXOS released a CD of Higdon's chamber works and Cedille released eighth blackbird's Strange Imaginary Animals, which includes Higdon's work Zaka. The latter won a GrammyTM award in 2008.
Higdon is currently on the composition faculty of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she holds the Milton L. Rock Chair in Compositional Studies.
Listen to some samples from the premiere recording with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano conducting.
Jennifer Higdon: On a Wire (2009) (:30) Jennifer Higdon: On a Wire (2009) (:30) Jennifer Higdon: On a Wire (2009) (:30) Jennifer Higdon: On a Wire (2009) (:30)
All audio clips courtesy of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Robert Spano, music director. photos: Jeff Roffman
"[On a Wire is an] exuberantly beautiful and inventive group concerto for eighth blackbird, which left the audience exhilarated and tickled [...] [It is] sunny, imaginative, endlessly surprising [...] both a resourceful response to a vexing logistical problem and an eloquent statement in its own right." -San Francisco Chronicle
"[The concerto is] showy, exuberant, beautifully crafted [...] At the climactic rush and the thwack of the bass drum at the end, the audience erupted, hollered, stood, smiled, laughed with communal euphoria and gave the petite Higdon the loudest and lustiest ovation of all [...] The performance was as zesty and ingratiating as the score demanded." -Atlanta Journal Constitution
"The elite sextet, eighth blackbird, in an imaginative and visually engaging performance [...] featuring dazzling solos and precise unity by this high-spirited ensemble." -Santa Cruz Sentinel
"On a Wire opened with the sextet all crowded around the piano with rosined strings woven through the instrument's wire strings, along with drum sticks, fingernails and hand-muting, altogether turning the instrument into an orchestra as colorful as the orchestra itself.” -Metro Santa Cruz
"[eighth blackbird] has a phenomenally high-energy performance style, [and] stayed in constant motion throughout this unusual and beguiling 25-minute concerto [...] It's hard to imagine another sextet playing it with such energy and precision" -Mercury News
Jennifer Higdon (b. Brooklyn, NY, December 31, 1962) maintains a full schedule of commissions and her music is known for its technical skill and audience appeal. Hailed by The Washington Post as "a savvy, sensitive composer with a keen ear, an innate sense of form and a generous dash of pure esprit," she is one of America's most frequently performed composers.