Higdon is one of America’s leading composers of the last decade, enjoying wide recognition and commissions from a variety of distinguished symphony orchestras and virtuosi. She has a degree in flute performance and was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an MA and a PhD. A relatively late bloomer, she points to musical influences from Peter, Paul and Mary, the Beatles, and Simon and Garfunkel. With four Grammy nominations under her belt, she is also a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her Violin Concerto. It would be hard, indeed, to think of many contemporary American composers whose compositions are played more frequently than are hers. She’s won just about every important award for music composition, and is a member of the faculty of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Dance Card is a suite of dances, a traditional genre that has antecedents as far back as the Renaissance, and was especially popular during the 17th and 18th centuries. Those of Bach and Handel come to mind most immediately. But, Higdon’s are decidedly contemporary, though the tongue and cheek title makes reference to rather archaic 19th century practice of ladies filling out a card with the prospective male dance partners for formal balls—a programme du bal.
Composed in 2015, the suite consists of a fanfare, two gentle serenades, and two “wild dances.” Higdon describes them as “a celebration of joy, lyricism and passion.” The slower ones are lush, sonorous affairs, while the two zippier ones are syncopated, disjunct, with hints of the contemporary tango. There are plenty of opportunities for solos from the principal players, and polyphonic challenges for all. Consummately attractive, and yet thoroughly contemporary, they illustrate the essential accessibility of Higdon’s work—a characterization she proudly acknowledges.
–Wm. E. Runyan
© 2026 William E. Runyan