Richard Danielpour
Composition
Richard DanielpourRichard Danielpour has been commissioned by many international music institutions, festivals, and artists, including soloists Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Dawn Upshaw, Emanuel Ax, Frederica von Stade, Thomas Hampson, and Gary Graffman; the Guarneri, Emerson, and American string quartets and Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio; and institutions such as the New York City and Pacific Northwest ballets, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia and Stuttgart Radio orchestras, Orchestre National de France, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and many more.
With Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison he createdMargaret Garner, his first opera, which premiered to sold-out houses in Detroit, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia in 2005 and had its New York premiere at New York City Opera in 2007.
Dr. Danielpour has received a Grammy Award, two Rockefeller Foundation grants, Charles Ives Fellowship and Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Guggenheim Fellowship, Bearns Prize from Columbia University, and grants and residencies from the Barlow Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Copland House, and American Academy in Rome.
In 2002 he was awarded a fellowship to the American Academy in Berlin, and he was the third composer--after Stravinsky and Copland--to be signed to an exclusive recording contract by Sony Classical.
On the Manhattan School of Music's composition faculty since 1993, Dr. Danielpour joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1997.
Jennifer Higdon
Milton L. Rock Chair in Composition Studies
Composition
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., but raised in the South, Jennifer Higdon received a Bachelor of Music from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1988, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition she has studied conducting with Robert Spano and flute with Judith Bentley.
Dr. Higdon is the recipient of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto; a 2009 Grammy Award (Best New Contemporary Classical Recording) for her Percussion Concerto; Guggenheim, Koussevitzky, and Pew fellowships; and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Her works are performed around the world, with commissions coming from a variety of ensembles and individuals, such as the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras; St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Gary Graffman; Hilary Hahn; the President's Own Marine Band; Tokyo String Quartet; Time for Three; Philadelphia Singers; Mendelssohn Club; eighth blackbird; and Opera Philadelphia and Santa Fe Opera. She has works on more than four dozen recordings, including the Grammy-winning CD of her Concerto for Orchestra and City Scape.
Dr. Higdon joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1994.
David Ludwig
Gie and Lisa Liem Dean of Artistic Programs and Performance
Composition Faculty
Director, Curtis 20/21 Ensemble
Artistic Director, Curtis Summerfest
David Ludwig is “a composer with something urgent to say” (Philadelphia Inquirer). His music has been described as “arresting and dramatically hued” (New York Times) and “supercharged with electrical energy and raw emotion” (Fanfare). In 2013 his choral work, “The New Colossus,” was selected to open the private prayer service for President Obama and his cabinet held before his second inauguration. In 2011 NPR Music listed him as one of the top 100 composers under 40 in the world.
Dr. Ludwig has written for many prominent artists, including soloists Jonathan Biss and Jennifer Koh, ensembles like eighth blackbird and ECCO, and orchestras including the Philadelphia, Minnesota, and National symphonies. Recent and upcoming commissions and performances include the Dover and Borromeo quartets, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and a seven-orchestra consortium commission of a new violin concerto for his wife, acclaimed violinist Bella Hristova.
An award-winning film composer, Dr. Ludwig recently scored Michael Almareyda’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, produced by Anthony Katagas (Twelve Years a Slave) and starring Ed Harris, Ethan Hawke, Milla Jovovich, and Dakota Johnson. He has held residencies with Marlboro Music, the Gardner Museum, Music from Angel Fire, the Ravinia Steans Institute, the MacDowell and Yaddo artist colonies, Seoul National University, and the Shanghai International Festival, among others. Dr. Ludwig directs composition programs at the Lake Champlain Festival and the Atlantic Music Festival, and he is the artistic director of Curtis Summerfest’s Young Artist Summer Program.
Dr. Ludwig’s family lineage of musicians includes his grandfather, Rudolf Serkin, and his great-grandfather, Adolf Busch. He holds degrees and diplomas from Oberlin, Manhattan School of Music, Curtis, and the Juilliard School, as well as a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
