JENNIFER HIGDON

 

During the month of March, we celebrate the achievements of women throughout musical history. At Eastman, this takes its most visible form with our annual Women in Music Festival, returning for its tenth year from March 24-29, 2014. Begun in 2005 by Eastman professor Sylvie Beaudette, the festival not only exalts women as musical performers, teachers, administrators, and scholars, it also presents music by women composers covering centuries: the plainchant of Hildegard of Bingen; the romantic piano and chamber music of Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel; the contemporary sounds of Judith Lang Zaimont, Thea Musgrave, and this year’s composer in residence, the Pulitzer Prize and Grammy winner Jennifer Higdon (pictured); and much more music, classical and popular. “Our legacy,” says Sylvie Beaudette, “is in making students aware of the variety of music offered by women composers.”