8 November 1945, Memphis, TN
American composer and pianist
Works for Brass Ensemble
- Winter Music Chanty (1985) for brass quintet
Biography
The music of Judith Lang Zaimont is internationally acclaimed for its immediacy, dynamism and emotion and is performed world-wide. Critics repeatedly term it “enjoyable, consistently inventive and accomplished” (Music Web International), citing its “richly eloquent vocabulary” (Records International), and note overall that “Zaimont is a serious artist, formidably endowed, and capable of a broad audience appeal… one of the most consistently rewarding composers of her generation” (Fanfare).
Her style is distinguished by its spirit of rhapsody featuring sudden shifts in texture, instrumental coloring, and atmosphere. Her 120 works include many prize-winning pieces covering every genre: Four symphonies, chamber opera, music for wind ensemble, for chorus and solo voice, and works for individual instruments plus a wide variety of chamber music.
Zaimont’s music is widely performed throughout the U.S. and Europe: Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore and Mississippi symphonies, Berlin and Czech Radio symphonies, Slovak National Philharmonic and the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra. Two dozen CDs are currently available on Naxos, MSR Classics, Harmonia Mundi, Parma/Navona, Koch International Classics, Arkiv Music, Albany, Jeanné, Inc., and Leonarda. Recent all-Zaimont recordings include a 2010 CD of orchestra music (Kirk Trevor: Slovak National Philharmonic – Naxos. three world premieres), 2011 chamber music CD (Eternal Evolution. The Harlem Quartet and Awadagin Pratt – Navona. three world premieres ); 2012 piano solo CD (Christopher Atzinger – Naxos); and the just-released 2012 2-CD album surveying her solo piano music (Elizabeth Moak: MSR Classics – Fifteen works, including three world premieres).
Judith Zaimont is actively commissioned, and her recent works include Attars for piano solo commissioned as the required work for the 2017 American Pianists Association (APA) competition (2016), Mondale Cycle for dramatic tenor and chamber orchestra (2015) commissioned by the Three Bridges Festival to honor Vice President Walter Mondale, the second string quartet A Strange Magic (2016), PURE, COOL (Water) – Symphony No. 4 (2013), Violin Sonata-Rhapsody (2012), JoyDance in Spring (2012) commissioned by Camerata Bern to honor its 50th anniversary, Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra ‘Solar Traveller’ ( 2009-2010), and String Quartet ‘The Figure’ (2007). She is the subject of 20 doctoral dissertations, and a Featured Composer at U.S. Festivals and Residencies. Music by Judith Zaimont appears on repertoire lists for major international performance competitions in voice, conducting and piano (Cliburn ’01, San Antonio, ’03, Kapell ’12, APA 2017), and two of her compositions are on Century Lists: Doubles (oboe and piano; Chamber Music America), and Sonata (Piano & Keyboard magazine).
Her numerous prizes and honors include the 2015 The American Prize for Chamber Music Composition, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, awards from both National Endowments (NEA: composition / NEH: scholarship), a 2005 Bush Foundation Fellowship and earlier American Pen Women Fellowship, IAWM, CBDNA, Maryland, and New York State arts fellowships, the Andrew G. Mellon Foundation (2007), and an Aaron Copland Award (2003). There are a number of significant prizes especially for her orchestral music: First Prize – Gold Medal – Gottschalk Centenary International Composition Competition (1972); First Prize – contest to honor the Statue of Liberty Centennial (1986); and First Prize – International McCollin Competition for Composers (1995; Symphony No. 1). Zaimont’s music for wind ensemble, commissioned over the past ten years, has been particularly well –received. These works include the Concerto ‘Solar Traveller’, Israeli Rhapsody, and Symphony for Wind Orchestra in Three Scenes. Additional honors include grants from the Arizona Commission on the Arts (2009, 2012), and Meet the Composer and ASCAP awards over a 30-year period.
A notable pianist from childhood on, Zaimont is also distinguished educator with professor appointments over 36 years at US universities, including Peabody Conservatory, CUNY, and the University of Minnesota. She is equally skilled as writer, creating and editing the Greenwood book series The Musical Woman: An International Perspective; her American Music Teacher magazine article “Embracing New Music” was named 2009 Article of the Year by MTNA.