Zwilich, Ellen Taaffe (1939– )

US composer. Her music is basically tonal in idiom, sometimes recalling minimalist or late Romantic precedents. Her Symposium for orchestra was conducted by Boulez in 1974, and her 1st symphony won a Pulitzer Prize in 1983.

Zwilich studied at Florida State University and with Ivan Galamian in New York. She played violin in the American Symphony Orchestra under Stokowski and studied further at the Juilliard School in New York, and with Sessions and Carter.

Works Orchestral Symbolom for orchestra (1988), Symphony no. 2 ‘Cello’ (1985) and no. 3 (1992, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra); concertos for trombone (1988), flute (1990), oboe (1990), bassoon (1992), horn (1993), and trumpet (1994).

Other choral and solo vocal music; chamber pieces, including the Double Quartet for strings (1984) and Quintet for clarinet and strings (1990).