Following the Sunday matinee of Gabriela Lena Frank’s “El último sueño de Frida y Diego” (“The Last Dream of Frida and Diego”) at the Metropolitan Opera, the composer and some of the principals joined general manager Peter Gelb onstage for a post-performance conversation.
Seeing Frank in the flesh set me thinking: how many Pulitzer Prize winners (for music) have I encountered in person? Alphabetically, I think this is a comprehensive list: William Bolcom, George Crumb, David Del Tredici, Jennifer Higdon, David Lang, Wynton Marsalis, Gian Carlo Menotti, Paul Moravec, Bernard Rands, Shulamit Ran, Ned Rorem, Caroline Shaw, Joan Tower, Melinda Wagner, George Walker, Richard Wernick, Julia Wolfe.
Some of these composers I saw more than once, a few were chance encounters, some I basically said hello to or had a quick exchange with, some of them I interviewed, a few I had actual, candid conversations with.
Those of you who are a little older or who had more mobility than I did as a teenager may have interacted with more of the legends I would have loved to have seen. Sadly, for all my precocity, I was somewhat of a provincial child and not very proactive about figuring out how to buy concert tickets and climb on a bus to New York or Philadelphia.
I would be delighted to read about any of your Pulitzer-winner encounters, if you care to share them in the comments below!
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PHOTO (left-to-right): librettist and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Nilo Cruz, Pulitzer Prize winning 0composer Gabriela Lena Frank, countertenor Nils Wanderer (Leonardo), baritone Carlos Álvarez (Diego Rivera), mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (Frida Kahlo), general director Peter Gelb.
Gabriella Reyes (Catrina, Keeper of the Dead) was already backstage – Gelb explained that it takes an hour for her to remove her costume and make-up – and Yannick Nézet-Séguin was off to Germany to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic.
A Frank Recollection of Pulitzer Prize Winners
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6 responses to “A Frank Recollection of Pulitzer Prize Winners”
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To my knowledge, the only Pulitzer Prize winner composer I’ve encountered is Jennifer Higdon. She appeared as a guest of Opera Philadelphia February 2016 at a brunch for donors before a performance of Cold Mountain.
The second time was at a nearby table at The Capital Grille on Broad St. (August 2016).
Wait they get better.
I met at a few concerts and was the sponsor of her Low Brass Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra. I got to share time with Jennifer, at a dinner reception after one of the rehearsals, during a reception before intermission at one of the concerts. Of course before the concerts, she did the pre concert lectures. She also participated in a Friday evening discussion for donors with the soloists of the low brass section.
For the past few years members of the orchestra have played chamber concerts at the Mutter Museum. Before the pandemic, I wrote to Jennifer about possibly commissioning a piece for the members of the orchestra. She replied that she worked through some scenarios however had too many commitments to accept the commission.
One time, I was dining along at the sushi place near the Kimmel Center. Jennifer and Cheryl Lawson came in for dinner. They invited me to sit with them.
I was sad to see her depart Philadelphia for North Carolina but completely understood her reasons.Media: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10227812929823761&set=p.10227812929823761&type=3
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Kenneth Hutchins You got to spend more time with her than I did — hell, you sponsored her Low Brass Concerto — but having met and chatted with her several times (we used to live two blocks from one another in Philadelphia), she always came across as one of the nicest people. They say you make your own success. Higdon’s disposition must be her most-helpful, non-musical asset. You can be the most talented person in the world, but it certainly smooths the way if people actually feel good being around you.
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Classic Ross Amico I agree about Jennifer’s pleasant disposition. Whenever I saw her at a post-concert talk it was generally with a smile on her face.
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What a great question! In looking through the list of music Pulitzer Prize winners, I realized that I have seen singularly lucky and have had encounters with 24 of them. It would take too long to describe all the encounters, so I’ll just list the composers here: John Adams, Aaron Copland, John Corigliano, George Crumb, David Del Tredici, Morton Gould, John Harbison, Jennifer Higdon, Leon Kirchner, Tania León, Paul Moravec, Walter Piston, Steve Reich, Roger Reynolds, Ned Rorem, Christopher Rouse, Gunther Schuller, William Schuman, Caroline Shaw, Virgil Thomson, George Walker, Robert Ward, Yehudi Wyner, and Ellen Taafe Zwilich. A few highlights follow.
In 1974, I bugged Walter Piston twice for an autograph at 80th birthday concerts held for him at Harvard. He did not want to give them to me at first, and the second time I approached him, he said, “Oh no, not you again!” But in the end he did give them to me, for which I remain most grateful.
In January 1978, I and two others interviewed Leon Kirchner at his home about Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky for a WHRB “orgy” we were producing on those two composers. He was a bit irascible at first, but then quite generous with his time once he saw the worth of what we were doing.
Later that year, I had probably the funniest encounter when I attended a Virgil Thomson concert at a small now-defunct music store in Harvard Square called Yesterday’s Music. They had somehow put this concert together and got Thomson to attend. He arrived late wearing a trenchcoat and hat and said, “Sorry to be late, I had to buy some new spy novels.” He then proceeded to fall asleep during the concert and snore, eliciting twitters of laughter from the audience. Between pieces, he did rouse himself, however, to say something about the music we were about to hear.
Finally, after seeing George Walker interviewed and honored with an all-Walker concert at the Library of Congress in 2013, I went out with some friends to a nearby restaurant. A short time later, Walker and his violinist son Gregory came in for some dinner. As we left and walked by their table, we applauded them, eliciting smiles from them both.
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Mather Pfeiffenberger Wonderful! I was hoping this would prod you to share some of your stories. You managed to see many of the composers I would have LOVED to have seen in person, Copland most of all (whom I know you interviewed), Piston, William Schuman, Morton Gould, and VIRGIL THOMSON (great anecdote). That’s the generation I’m talking about. Amazing! I think Samuel Barber is just about the only one missing from your “Hall of Justice.” But I count myself fortunate to have seen the one’s I’ve seen.
I believe I told you I opened my apartment door once to find David Del Tredici standing out in the hallway. He was disoriented and looking for my landlord (a friend). Menotti I only saw during a curtain call for a production of “The Saint of Bleecker Street” he directed for the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Marsalis I saw as a jazz trumpeter, when he was still better known in classical circles as a performer, rather than a composer.
I met and talked with Crumb a number of times, at rehearsals and receptions. He was always boy-like in his enthusiasm. His daughter, also sadly no longer with us, was lovely too. A real animal lover. She was a musical theater actress, but a totally genuine person. I think I was a little bit in love with her.
Ned Rorem I also saw frequently, since he taught at Curtis. His niece managed an architectural book and design store I worked at, and he used to come in sometimes to get things framed. We had a real conversation once. I know he had a reputation, from his published diaries, but I must have caught him at a moment of vulnerability, because in that instance he impressed me as very human.
I interviewed Higdon and Shaw for newspaper articles. Wernick nearly ran me down with his car.
https://rossamico.com/2025/04/28/richard-wernick-pulitzer-winner-almost-hit-me/
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Classic Ross Amico Thanks! Yeah, like I say, I’ve been very lucky. I didn’t see Barber because I think he was rather reclusive and stayed in or near NYC for much of the 1970s. I probably could have seen Menotti – he was directing a lot of operas at the then-called Washington Opera in the 1980s and they even premiered his new opera Goya with Domingo in the title role, but I wasn’t attending opera to speak of in that period. (Also missed the American premiere of the revised version of Bernstein’s A Quiet Place at the Kennedy Center, which I regret.)
But you really had some more personal encounters with your awardees than I did. That’s an amazing story about working for Rorem’s niece and getting to have that conversation with him. And having Jennifer Hidgon live two blocks from you. And helping David Del Tredici find your landlord! I agree with you about Crumb’s boy-like enthusiasm. And also quite a story about your nearly getting run over by Wernick! What we will do at times for autographs…
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