Classical Music, but With a Modern Sound

11 July 2010

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Today we begin the first of two programs about classical music composers at work today in the United States. Some continue the traditions of European music from centuries ago. Others take a more experimental approach to their music.

(MUSIC: Symphony No. 1/Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra)

VOICE ONE:

Ellen Taaffe Zwilick was the first woman composer to win a Pulitzer Prize

We start with Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Her music is often described as complex but accessible, appealing to wider audiences. In nineteen eighty-three she became the first female composer to win a Pulitzer Prize. She won it for her Symphony Number One.

She says this is a special time to be a composer. Thanks to technology, more music is available to more people than at any time in history.

Ellen Zwilich began her musical exploration playing the piano, violin and trumpet. She started writing music as a child. She studied music at Florida State University and later moved to New York City to study violin and composition.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Composer Elliott Carter at a news conference at Carnegie Hall in New York in January 2008

One of Ellen Zwilich's teachers has been a big part of American classical music for over seventy years: Elliott Carter.