Ellen Taaffe Zwilich is one of the most prolific and best-known contemporary female composers. In 1975, she was the first woman to receive a DMA in composition from the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied composition with Elliot Carter and Roger Sessions, and violin with Ivan Galamian. In 1983, she was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in music for her Symphony No. 1, and in 1995 she was named to the first Composer’s Chair in the history of Carnegie Hall. Zwilich began her professional career in the violin section of the American Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski but after seven years decided to devote herself fully to composition. She currently holds the Krafft Distinguished Professorship at Florida State University and is also the current chair of the BMI Student Composers Awards, a competition for young composers of classical music.

Zwilich’s music is marked by long melodic lines, compelling rhythms and transparent instrumentation. As a string player, she appears to have enjoyed the adventure of discovering and writing for unfamiliar solo instruments, enriching both the orchestral and chamber repertoire with works featuring such diverse instruments as bassoon, bass trombone, oboe and percussion.

In 2001 Zwilich received a commission to compose a clarinet concerto for clarinetist David Shifrin. She just finished the exuberant and virtuosic first movement, with its three-note opening phrase recurring throughout the concerto, when the events of 9/11 unfolded.

The second movement became an elegy, an expression of shock and sorrow at the horrors of the attack. "It was in my soul at the moment," she said, titling the movement "Elegy: September 11". It opens with a scream that is repeated in diminishing volume a couple of times throughout the movement, followed by a moment of silence. The clarinet begins a klezmer-like lament accompanied by pizzicato strings. The movement ends with the clarinet sound dying.

Trying to recover from the grim mood, the scherzo-like third movement returns to a more cheerful tone, but the solemn trio does not let us forget. The fourth movement is again a remembrance but ends on a more hopeful note.

Program notes by: Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn

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