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Melinda Wagner | |
|---|---|
| Born | Melinda Jane Wagner 1957 (age 68–69) |
| Origin | American |
| Occupations | Composer |
Melinda Jane Wagner (born 1957 inPhiladelphia) is a US composer, and winner of the 1999Pulitzer Prize in music. Her undergraduate degree is fromHamilton College. She received her graduates degrees from University of Chicago and University of Pennsylvania. She also served as Composer-in-Residence at theUniversity of Texas (Austin) and at the'Bravo!' Vail Valley Music Festival. Some of her teachers includedRichard Wernick,George Crumb,Shulamit Ran, andJay Reise.[1]
A resident ofRidgewood, New Jersey, Wagner won the1999 Pulitzer Prize for herConcerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion.[2] The Chicago Symphony has commissioned three major works, Falling Angels (1992); a piano concerto, Extremity of Sky (2002) for Emanuel Ax; the most recent of these, Proceed, Moon (2016), was premiered by the orchestra under the baton of Susanna Mälkki in 2017. Extremity of Sky has also been performed by Emanuel Ax with the National Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, and the Staatskapelle Berlin. Other works have been performed by a number of orchestras, including theNew York New Music Ensemble, the Network for New Music,Orchestra 2001, theSan Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and many other leading organizations.
She has received many honorable mentions, including aGuggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and awards from theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters and threeASCAP Young Composer awards. Beforehand, she also received an honorary degree from Hamilton College. Some of her famous pieces are theTrombone Concerto (2007),Falling Angels (1992), andExtremity of Sky (2002).[3][4]
Wagner was also commissioned by the New York Philharmonic (a concerto for principal trombonist Joseph Alessi), from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Barlow, Fromm, and Koussevitzky Foundations, the American Brass Quintet, and from guitarist David Starobin. She has received a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an honorary degree from Hamilton College, as well as a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Pennsylvania. Her other performances include the Dallas Symphony, the American Composers Orchestra, the Women's Philharmonic, the New York Pops, and the US Marine Band.
Wagner has held a faculty position at The Juilliard School since 2016. Previously, Wagner has held faculty positions at Brandeis University, Smith College, and Syracuse University.[5] Wagner has also taught at many universities including theUniversity of Pennsylvania,Swarthmore College,Syracuse University, andHunter College. She has lectured at many schools such asYale University,Cornell University,Juilliard School, andMannes School of Music. Wagner has served as Composer-in-Residence at theUniversity of Texas Austin and at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband, percussionist James Saporito, and their children.[1]
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