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A Celebration Of Jennifer Higdon

Pulitzer-Prize winning composer, Jennifer Higdon, is one of America's most frequently performed living composers. A Tennessee native, she has been commissioned by many of the world's leading orchestras, has won many awards and fellowships, and currently teaches composition at the Curtis Institute of Music. Ms. Higdon will be in residence at the University of Tennessee School of Music from February 17th through 23rd. Several concerts, recitals, and lectures will take place during this time, including a performance of Higdon's seldom-performed work, "The Singing Rooms," presented by the UT Symphony Orchestra and combined choirs. The concert will be given Sunday, February 19 at 4pm in Cox Auditorium in the Alumni Memorial Building, located on the UT campus. Maestro James Fellenbaum will conduct and in this interview, he and Morning Concert host, Melony Dodson, discuss "The Singing Rooms": its complexities, stylistic characteristics, symbolism, and challenges.

More information and a complete schedule of Ms. Higdon's residency can be found here: www.music.utk.edu/higdon/index.php

Melony calls the beautiful mountains of Boone, N.C., home, although she was born near Greensboro, N.C. There’s just something about those Blue Ridge Mountains that got in her blood and never left after she moved there to attend Appalachian State University (ASU). While at ASU, she majored in piano performance and music therapy and began to cultivate a love for accompanying and for collaborating with other musicians. This soon led her to earn a master’s degree in collaborative piano at the University of Tennessee, which she attended from 2006-2008.