Jennifer Higdon is one of the most performed living American composers working today.

Dr. Higdon has been the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy Award, Guggenheim and Pew fellowships, a commission from the Serge Koussevitsky Music Foundation, and two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has been commissioned by a wide range of performers, including the Philadelphia Orchestra; the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band; the Tokyo String Quartet; Eighth Blackbird; and individual artists such as baritone Thomas Hampson, violinist Hilary Hahn, and pianists Gary Graffman and Yuja Wang. Her upcoming projects include three new concertos that have been co-commissioned by eleven orchestras, and a new chamber opera for Opera Philadelphia.

Her first opera, Cold Mountain, was a resounding success, selling out its first two runs, becoming the third highest-selling opera in Opera Philadelphia’s history, and winning an International Opera Award. Dr. Higdon’s works are recorded on over 65 CDs.

She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in performance from Bowling Green State University, an artist diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Higdon joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1994, where she holds the Milton L. Rock Chair in Composition Studies.