Judith Lang Zaimont was named Honored Composer and
awarded $2,500 as one of the two prize winners in
the inaugural Van Cliburn Foundation American Composers
Invitational competition, part of the 11th Van Cliburn
International Competition, June 2001 in Fort Worth,
TX, for her piano work Impronta Digitale ("Fingerprint").
In addition to standing alone, Impronta Digitale
also serves as the third movement of her 1999 Sonata
for Piano Solo, which was cited as the most important
piano piece of 1999 on Piano & Keyboard
magazine's 20th-century timeline. Recent articles
about the composer include Anne Kilstofte's "An
Interview with Judith Lang Zaimont: The Cliburn Competition
and New Music," in the IAWM Journal, Fall
2001; Michael Cherlin's "Judith Lang Zaimont's
Chamber Music for Winds: A Quintet of Quintets,"
in The Clarinet, Vol 28. No. 3, June 2001;
an interview with Zaimont in the Internet magazine
Sequenza 21 (www.sequenza21.com),
April 2001; and an entry in The New Grove Dictionary
of Music and Musicians, by A. J. Randall. (London
and New York: 2001). An interview with the composer
by Stephanie Wendt is in preparation for a 2002 issue
of Clavier. Also in preparation are Vivace
Press Publications of "Bubble-Up" Rag
- Concertpiece for Flute and Piano (2001) and
the flute-piano version of Reflective Rag (originally
1974; arranged for flute and piano 2001); and an Albany
Records CD for release in Fall 2002 including Sonata,
Jupiter's Moons, Nocturne: La Fin de Siecle, and "Hesitation"
Rag, with pianist Joanne Polk. Zaimont's works
have received favorable reviews in Clavier, Dallas
Morning News, and New Music Connoisseur.
Premieres
Impronta Digitale (1999, Sounds Alive!, 8
minutes), premiered by Stanislav Ioudenitch and Olga
Kern, co-Gold Medal Winners of the 11th Van Cliburn
International Competition, has had performances around
the world. In 2001, "Bubble-Up" Rag -
Concertpiece for Flute and Piano (2001, 8 minutes)
and Reflective Rag (originally 1974; arranged
for flute and piano 2001), were played first by Mary
Lee Cochran and Wesley Beal at the National Flute
Association Convention, in Dallas, TX (August); at
the College Music Society annual convention, in Santa
Fe (November); and on their fall tour. Wind Quintet
No. 2 - "Homeland" (2001, Jeann, Inc.)
for flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon,
commissioned for the Bergen (Norway) Wind Quintet
by the Minnesota Commissioning Club, was introduced
at Ted Mann Hall, in Minneapolis, MN, October 2001.
The 2001 version of Life Cycle, an ongoing
project for women's voices and instruments to poems
by women (1994-2001, Sounds Alive!), currently including
Friends (1994, text by Doris Kosloff), for SSAA and
piano; Kneeling in the Big City [Demeter, Persephone]
(2001, text by Elizabeth Macklin), for soprano and
alto soloists, SSAA choir, and piano; The Habit
of Anger (2001, text by Macklin), for SSAA choir
and piano; and They Were Women Then (1997,
text by Alice Walker, for SSAA choir, piano, and maracas,
with movements commissioned by New York Treble Singers,
Virginia Davidson, director, was heard first May 2001,
New York, NY, with the Treble Singers. Played first
in 2001 was City Rain (2001, Hal Leonard/American
Composers Forum), a tone poem for middle school band,
commissioned by American Composers Forum BandQuest
project, with the Valley View Middle School Eighth
Grade Band, Kim Budde, conductor (June); the New York
State honor band (August); and at the Wind Band Symposium,
held at the University of Minnesota (July).
Recordings
Impronta Digitale; Harmonia Mundi 2001 Cliburn
Competition Gold Medal Recital: Olga Kern CD, September
2001. ... 3: 4, 5 ..., three-movement quintet for
oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, bass viol; Minnesota
Orchestra members; Jeann, Inc. Blend CD, August 2001.
*Sigma Alpha Iota Honorary Member
