Jennifer Higdon was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 31, 1962. The first performance of the Mandolin Concerto took place in Munich, Germany, in June, 2021, with Avi Avital, soloist, and Krzysztof Urbański conducting the Munich Philharmonic. Approximate performance time is thirteen minutes.

American composer Jennifer Higdon created her Mandolin Concerto for the Israeli virtuoso Avi Avital. Higdon comments: “His playing, while certainly virtuosic, is also soulful. He makes this unusual instrument come alive for audiences and lets them experience new sounds.” 

The Concerto was commissioned by The Munich Philharmonic, The Mobile Symphony, The Chicago Philharmonic Society, The Adele and John Gray Endowment Fund, and Avi Avital.

Hidgon composed the Concerto during the pandemic:

"Many of my composer colleagues began to write dark and angry works as their response to COVID, the pandemic and the loss of so much in the world of classical music. To help process my own feelings, I decided to use this project to reaffirm my belief in humankind and to express my belief, musically, that the world will right itself and come out stronger for it."

The Concerto is in two movements; the First lyrical and introspective, the Last, vibrant, with numerous brilliant opportunities for the soloist.