The Boston Modern Orchestra Project to Present The 21st Boston ConNECtion Concert Celebrating Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

As New England Conservatory's (NEC) affiliate orchestra for new music, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) will present the 21st Boston ConNECtion concert, a portrait concert featuring music by NEC's Malcolm Peyton Composer Artist-in-Residence Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. As part of BMOP's extended 2022-23 25th anniversary celebration season, this one-night only concert marks the orchestra's return to its home venue, Jordan Hall, after a two-year hiatus. Led by conductor Gil Rose and joined by soloists Sarah Brady (flute) and Gabriela Diaz (violin), BMOP presents four works by an icon of American symphonic composition. (This concert will be recorded and later released in 2023 on the BMOP/sound label.)

As NEC's Composer Artist-in-Residence, 82-year-old Ellen Taaffe Zwilich leads master classes and workshops with the school's composition department in early April 2022 followed by this portrait concert. "Our 21-year partnership with NEC is built on a mutual commitment to provide a platform for NEC students, faculty and alumni to stage and perform new music," says Gil Rose, Artistic Director and Conductor of BMOP. "We are thrilled to be joining forces with the conservatory's prestigious composition department once again and look forward to sharing Zwilich's accessible music."

Zwilich is the recipient of numerous prizes and honors, and has achieved a number of firsts in her life: in 1975, the first woman to earn a doctorate in composition at Juilliard (with honorary doctorates including those from Oberlin College and Michigan State University); in 1983, the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Music; and in 1995, the first composer-in-residence at Carnegie Hall. A prolific composer in virtually all media, Zwilich's works have been performed by most of the leading American orchestras and by major ensembles abroad. Critics rave that hers is a "musical mind of originality, skill and versatility (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) and her music is "distinctive not only for its superb craftsmanship, but also for its wit, lyricism and sheer beauty, making it immediately appealing to listeners (Cincinnati.com)."

The program opens with the fitting Upbeat (1999), a work springing from the famous upbeat in Partita No. 3 by J.S Bach, and the title referring also to the lively and joyous "upbeat" character of the music. Zwilich's Concerto Elegia (2015) for flute and strings and Commedia dell'Arte (2012) for violin and string orchestra both feature longtime members of the BMOP orchestra as soloists: flutist Sarah Brady and violinist Gabriela Diaz. The concert closer Symphony No. 5 "Concerto for Orchestra" (2008) was commissioned by The Juilliard School where Zwilich not only received her doctorate, but also found her voice as a composer. Consisting of four contrasting movements, Symphony No. 5, according to the composer, "treats the ensemble like a huge chamber ensemble, in which each player or section can be a brilliant soloist one moment and a sensitive partner the next."

About Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

At a time when the musical offerings of the world are more varied than ever before, few composers have emerged with the unique personality of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Her music is widely known because it is performed, recorded, broadcast, and - above all - listened to and liked by all sorts of audiences the world over. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians [8th edition] states: "There are not many composers in the modern world who possess the lucky combination of writing music of substance and at the same time exercising an immediate appeal to mixed audiences. Zwilich offers this happy combination of purely technical excellence and a distinct power of communication."

Her works include five Symphonies and a string of concertos commissioned and performed over the past two decades by the nation's top orchestras. Zwilich is the recipient of numerous prizes and honors, including the 1983 Pulitzer Prize in Music (the first woman ever to receive this coveted award), the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Chamber Music Prize, the Arturo Toscanini Music Critics Award, the Ernst von Dohnányi Citation, an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, four Grammy nominations, the Alfred I. Dupont Award, Miami Performing Arts Center Award, the Medaglia d'oro in the G.B. Viotti Competition, and the NPR and WNYC Gotham Award for her contributions to the musical life of New York City. Among other distinctions, Ms. Zwilich has been elected to the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1995, she was named to the first Composer's Chair in the history of Carnegie Hall, and she was designated Musical America's Composer of the Year for 1999. Ms. Zwilich, who holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School, currently holds the Krafft Distinguished Professorship at Florida State University. For more information visit www.zwilich.com.

About New England Conservatory (NEC)

Founded by Eben Tourjée in Boston, Massachusetts in 1867, the New England Conservatory (NEC) represents a new model of music school that combines the best of European tradition with American innovation. The school stands at the center of Boston's rich cultural history and musical life, presenting concerts at the renowned Jordan Hall. As an independent, not-for-profit institution that educates and trains musicians of Propelled by profound artistry, bold creativity and deep compassion, NEC seeks to amplify musicians' impact on advancing our shared humanity, and empowers students to meet today's changing world head-on, equipped with the tools and confidence to forge multidimensional lives of artistic depth and relevance.

As an independent, not-for-profit institution that educates and trains musicians of all ages from around the world, NEC is recognized internationally as a leader among music schools. It cultivates a diverse, dynamic community, providing music students of more than 40 countries with performance opportunities and high-caliber training from 225 internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. NEC pushes the boundaries of music-making and teaching through college-level training in classical, jazz and contemporary improvisation. Through unique interdisciplinary programs such as Entrepreneurial Musicianship and Community Performances & Partnerships, it empowers students to create their own musical opportunities. As part of NEC's mission to make lifelong music education available to everyone, the Preparatory School and School of Continuing Education delivers training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students and adults.

About BMOP

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is the premier orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A unique institution of crucial artistic importance to today's musical world, BMOP exists to disseminate exceptional orchestral music of the present and recent past via performances and recordings of the highest caliber. Founded by Artistic Director Gil Rose in 1996, BMOP has championed composers whose careers span nine decades.

Each season, Rose brings BMOP's award-winning orchestra, renowned soloists, and influential composers to the stage of New England Conservatory's historic Jordan Hall in a series that offers orchestral programming of unrivaled eclecticism. Musical America's 2016 Ensemble of the Year, BMOP was awarded the 2021 Special Achievement Award from Gramophone Magazine as "an organization that has championed American music of the 20th and 21st century with passion and panache." The musicians of BMOP are consistently lauded for the energy, imagination, and passion with which they infuse the music of the present era. For more information, please visit BMOP.org.