New Music USA Online Library

Premieres:

• October 2002 -- Vergie Rainey - scena for soprano, mezzo and piano to
  texts by Eudora Welty. Commissioned by Millsaps College (Jackson, MS)
  national conference on women composers.

• November 22, 2002 -- Wind Quintet No. 2 - "Homeland"
  Bergen Wind Quintet, Ted Mann Hall, Minneapolis, MN.
  [Also February 2003, Bergen, Norway.] Commissioned by
  the Minnesota Commissioning Club.

• March 2003 -- Symphony for Wind Orchestra
  I: Growler II: Dreamz III: Tattoo
  University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble, Craig Kirchhoff, director.
  CBDNA National Convention. Commissioned to honor the 100th anniversary
  of the university’s School of Music.

• June 2003 -- [suite for piano solo ]
  Commissioned by California Music Teachers’ Association. 20 performances.

• October 2003 -- [ extended work for solo piano; required work for the competition ]
  Commissioned for the 2003 International San Antonio Competition (TX).
  

Recording :

• Albany Records Solo Piano Works -
  SONATA (1999) Jupiter’s Moons (2000) Nocturne (1979) Hesitation Rag (1987)
  Performed by Joanne Polk. Supported by grants from the Aaron Copland Fund (AMC)
  and Ditson Fund (Columbia University). For release in 2003.

Publications:

• From the Great Land for mezzo, clarinet, piano and Eskimo drum : Jeanné , Inc.
  
• ‘Bubble-Up’ Rag for flute and piano: Vivace Press
  
• Reflective Rag for flute and piano: Vivace Press
  
• work for California MTA : Vivace Press
  
• work included as scoring assignment for 3rd edition of Adler The Study of Orchestration
  teaching package ("Jazz Waltz" from Suite Impressions)

Honors:

• Elected national board member in Composition, The College Music Society, 2003-2005.
  
• Featured composer for 2002, National Federation of Music Clubs.
  
• Featured composer for national conference on women composers, Mississippi,
  October 2002.
  
• Feature interview in Clavier, winter 2003.

Internationally-recognized composer with an impressive catalogue of close to 100 works, many of which are prize-winning compositions. These include two symphonies, chamber opera, oratorios and cantatas, music for wind ensemble, vocal-chamber pieces with varying accompanying ensembles, a wide variety of chamber works, and solo music for string and wind instruments, piano, organ, and voice. Her many composition awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship (1983-84); Maryland State Arts Council creative fellowship (1986-87); and commission grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (1982) and American Composers Forum (1993). Her orchestral music has been repeatedly recognized through prizes: First Prize - Gold Medal in the Gottschalk Centenary International Composition Competition (1972); First Prize in the Chamber Orchestra Composition contest to honor the Statue of Liberty Centennial (1986); and First Prize in the international 1995 McCollin Competition for Composers (for Symphony No. 1, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1996). Over the past decade, she was Featured Composer at the

Indiana University of Pennsylvania "Women in Music" Symposium ( 1991), Composer of the Year at Alabama University (1994), Featured Composer at the 1995 Society of Composers International American meeting, and Filene Artist-in-Residence for the 1996-97 year at Skidmore College. In spring 1999 she served as Composer in Residence at University of Wisconsin -River Falls, and in 2001 as Honored Composer at the 11th International Van Cliburn Competition ( where both Gold Medalists selected and performed her music). She will be Featured Composer at the annual conference of the National Federation of Music Clubs (summer 2002), and 2003 Commissioned Composer of the California Music Teachers Association.

Zaimont's works are frequently played in the United States (Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center) and abroad; they are published (Galaxy/ ECS, C. F. Peters, Broude, Sounds Alive!, Vivace, Walton) and recorded (Arabesque, Leonarda, 4-Tay, Koch). Her music is the subject of nine doctoral dissertations, and several of her works serve as repertoire for performance competitions. Two of her works have been named to Century Lists -- Doubles -1993 (Chamber Music America ), and Sonata - 1999 ( Piano and Keyboard magazine). Her biography is found in most standard reference works (e.g., New Grove’s), and she is the subject both of individual chapters in specialist volumes and major articles in professional journals.

Formerly a member of the faculties of Queens College and Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she was named "Teacher of the Year" in 1985, Judith Zaimont is a distinguished teacher, and held the post of Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Department at Adelphi University from 1989-91. Since 1992 Zaimont has been Professor of Composition at the University of Minnesota School of Music. She is also the founder and co-director of the New York-based performing ensemble, AMERICAN ACCENT, and creator and editor-in-chief of the critically acclaimed book series, The Musical Woman: An International Perspective (3 vols., Greenwood Press). For the books, she received a research grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (1989), and the 1993 First Prize in the international musicology awards, the Pauline Alderman Prizes.