“...one of America’s most frequently played and genuinely popular living composers...”
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich was born April 30, 1939 in Miami, FL. Much like other composers, her creative life began in childhood. She remembers playing with musical toys as a youngster and started composing by the age 5 when she took her first piano lessons. Zwilich showed a remarkable infinity for music at a young age. Her parents, although not-very-musical, were very supportive of their daughter and her endeavors.
Throughout her education, Zwilich has fond memories of her musical experiences during her school years. She speaks warmly of her trumpet teacher who "nurtured her musicality by giving her astute explanations of transposition and other musical structures." Because of this, she learned to view composition as a very natural activity. By high school graduation, she had studied violin, piano, and trumpet proficiently.
Zwilich afforded early opportunities to conduct, with her high school having several behind the screen auditions for their music students. Zwilich has defined that these "experience[s] are the most important knowledge for an aspiring composer."
Zwilich attended Florida State University in Tallahasee, where she began her studies as a violinist, eventually earning a Bachelor of Music in 1960. During this time, she studied with guitarist John Boda. In 1962, she earned her Master of Music degree also at FSU.
Currently, Dr. Zwilich serves as a Marie Krafft Distinguished Professor at her alma mater.
In 1964, Zwilich moved to New York to study composition with Roger Sessions and Elliott Carter, and violin with Ivan Galamian and Richard Burgin. She played with the American Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski from 1965 to 1972, where she acquired invaluable training in performance and orchestra. She did not begin attending Juilliard School until 1975, when her works first came to prominence after Pierre Boulez programmed her Symposium for Orchestra with the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra.
Zwilich is the first woman to hold a Doctorate in Composition at The Juilliard School.
shows the Juilliard School in the 1920s. (Photo by MCNY/Gottscho-Schleisner/Getty Images)
Zwilich married Hungarian-born violinist Joseph Zwilich in 1969, and the two had no children. Joseph played as a member in the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera; during this time, a few of Zwilich's works were written for him.
Joseph suddenly passed of a heart attack in 1979, shortly after their 10th wedding anniversary, leaving Zwilich devastated. This event would mark the change in Zwilich's musical and compositional style going forward.
Zwilich states, “there has been some tremendous progress that I have seen over my lifetime. I really lucked out because I have gone through my life without having too many obstacles.” She explains that she went to a high school “that had behind-the-screen auditions. I really have enjoyed access.” Humble and aware of the opportunities she was graced with throughout her career, Zwilich sends a message to women musicians that progress has been made in women representation within musical spheres. As a rolemodel to aspiring women composers and musicians, her influence can be felt throughout the world of music.
Zwilich revolutionized the path for women in music in countless ways. During an era where relatively few women were winning honors and distinctions, much less being hired in professional orchestras, she created an impressive reputation for herself among her peers.
Sensitive to gender issues, Zwilich recalls a standard art book that "required heavy lifting for the number of artists represented, but completely lacking any female entries," and finds it interesting "how women were written out of the history, or erased from it."
However, she admits that she is not impeded by the general attitude toward women composers. She found that when someone put up an obstacle, another wanted to help her out.
(left to right)
Chinese-American violinist and composer, Chen Yi
American composer, Ned Rorem
German-American pianist, composer, and conductor, Lukas Foss
American flutist, Trudy Kane