Higdon's list of commissioners is extensive and includes The Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Oregon Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Curtis Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra, pianist Gary Graffman, Tokyo String Quartet, Ying Quartet, eighth blackbird, the Gilmore Piano Festival, the American Guild of Organists, and the Philadelphia Singers.

Higdon has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts & Letters (two awards), the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Meet-the-Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and ASCAP. In addition, she has received grants from the Mary Flagler Charitable Trust and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She has served as Composer-in-Residence for many music festivals, including the Vail Festival, Music From Angel Fire Festival, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. In 2004, Higdon was the first woman composer to be named a featured composer at the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival. Higdon has received three grants from the Meet-the-Composer Foundation, allowing her to serve as Composer-in-Residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (2005-06 season), the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra (2006-07 season) and the Philadelphia Orchestra (2007-08 season).

Higdon enjoys more than two hundred performances a year of her works. Her orchestral work blue cathedral is one of the most performed contemporary orchestral works in the United States, having been programmed by more than 140 orchestras since its premiere in 2000.

Higdon's other works have also been performed extensively in the United States and abroad, including performances at the White House, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and by orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, BBC Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Houston Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony and performers such as Hilary Hahn, Jeffrey Khaner, Marc-Andre Hamelin, and the Miami String Quartet.

Her works have been recorded on over two dozen CDs. In spring of 2003, Telarc released blue cathedral by the Atlanta Symphony (Robert Spano, conducting) on a disc that made the Classical Billboard charts. In 2004, the Atlanta Symphony released the Grammy-winning Higdon: Concerto for Orchestra/City Scape. In fall of 2006, NAXOS released a CD of Higdon's chamber works Piano Trio, Voices, and Impressions, recorded by the Cypress String Quartet. Also in fall of 2006, Cedille released Strange Imaginary Animals, recorded by eighth blackbird, which includes Higdon's Zaka; and Crystal Records released International Connections, recorded by the Verdehr Trio, which includes Higdon's DASH.

Jennifer Higdon holds a Ph.D. and a M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in composition, a B.M. in flute performance from Bowling Green State University, and an Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Higdon's teachers have included George Crumb and Ned Rorem (composition), Judith Bentley (flute), and Robert Spano (conducting).

In 2007-08, Higdon will serve as the Composer-in-Residence at the Mannes College The New School for Music. In 2006-07, Higdon served as the Karel Husa Visiting Professor at Ithaca College. She is currently on the composition faculty of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.


About the Composer's Award
Established in 1959, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra Composer’s Award is the oldest award of its kind in the nation. Its purpose is to recognize and honor contemporary composers who are making a particularly significant contribution in the field of symphonic music, not only through their own creative efforts but also as effective personal advocates of new approaches to the broadening of critical and appreciative standards. While the judgment of any creative work ultimately rests upon the artist, it is nevertheless true that, in music as in other arts, appreciation often stems from personal association. The appearance of an outstanding composer before the more than 2,500 patrons of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra generates not only greater interest in his work but also a more appreciative hearing of contemporary music.

The Composer's Award is given as the key feature of a program designed to encourage and actively develop a special interest in modern music and contemporary composers on the part of the audiences of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, to the end that this Pennsylvania community may serve as an example in the advancement of greater understanding and appreciation of contemporary music everywhere.

The award is made in connection with a regular concert by the Lancaster Symphony at which a representative work of the composer being honored is performed. In the acceptance of the award, the composer gives a short talk, summarizing his/her individual approach to musical composition.

Previous Recipients
1959 - Howard Hanson
1960 - Peter Mennin
1963 - Henry Cowell
1964 - Vincent Persichetti
1965 - William Schuman
1966 - Walter Piston
1967 - Norman Dello Joio
1968 - Alan Hovhaness
1969 - Roger Sessions
1970 - Paul Creston
1971 - Virgil Thomson
1972 - Gunther Schuller
1973 - Gian Carlo Menotti
1974 - Leroy Anderson
1975 - Richard Yardumian
1976 - David Amran
1977 - David Diamond
1978 - Louis A. Mennini
1979 - Robert Ward
1980 - Morton Gould
1981 - Jacob Druckman
1982 - Ned Rorem
1983 - David Del Tredici
1984 - Elie Siegmeister
1985 - Benjamin Lees
1986 - George Rochberg
1987 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
1988 - John Corigliano
1989 - Ulysses Kay
1990 - John Harbison
1991 - Stephen Albert
1992 - Joseph Schwantner
1993 - Russell Peck
1994 - Stephen Paulus
1995 - David Ott
1996 - William Bolcom
1998 - George T. Walker
1999 - James “Kimo” Williams
2000 - Christopher Rouse
2001 - Aaron Jay Kernis
2002 - Lukas Foss
2003 - Joan Tower
2004 - Bernard Rands
2005 - Michael Daugherty
2006 - Richard Danielpour
2007 - Peter Schickele
2008 - Jennifer Higdon