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Composer Profiles
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
Born: Miami, Florida - 1939
Biography
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich is the first woman composer to have
won a Pulitzer Prize and the first to receive a doctoral
degree in composition from the Julliard School. Born in
Miami, Florida, Zwilich studied composition at Florida
State University before later enrolling at Julliard as a
student of John Boda, Elliott Carter, and Roger Sessions.
After building her reputation following the premiere of her
Symposium for Orchestra (1975), Zwilich went on to win
the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for her Symphony No. 1 “Three Movements for Orchestra” (1982), premiered
by Gunther Schuller, and soon afterward became a composer of international renown. In 1999,
Zwilich was named Composer of the Year by Musical America, the oldest American classical music
magazine. Her many honors include a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, the Arturo Toscanini
Music Critics Award, and four Grammy nominations. In 2009, Zwilich became the Chair of the
BMI Foundation Student Composer Awards, leading a board including the composers John
Adams, George Crumb, and Elliott Carter.
Works
Zwilich’s early student works represent a great deal of influence from her Julliard professors;
difficult harmonic lines and intricate musical textures pervade pieces such as the Symposium for
Orchestra (1975), the premiere of which was conducted by Pierre Boulez. Her music evolved into a
more accessible vein specifically after the death of her husband, violinist Joseph Zwilich, in 1979.
Zwilich’s compositional process involves “the idea of generating an entire work – large-scale
structure, melodic and harmonic language, and developmental processes – from its initial
motives”. Her Symphony No. 1 in particular, is built on the elaboration of a single tonal motive,
centered on the pitch A, that continuously develops directly from the first fifteen measures of the
piece. Her musical catalogue also includes works for chamber ensembles, song cycles, and large
scale choral works.
Suggested Listening
Symphony No. 1 “Three Movements for Orchestra” (1982); Celebration for Orchestra (1984);
Concerto Grosso (1985); Symbolon (1988); Symphony No. 4 “The Gardens” (1999); Millennium
Fantasy (2000); Symphony No. 5 “Concerto for Orchestra” (2008); Shadows for Piano and Orchestra
(2011)