Composer Jennifer Higdon will be celebrated in Santa Barbara with works premiering at the Music Academy of the West by Santa Barbara Symphony.

The composer will see her song cycle “Wise Moon,” commissioned by the Music Academy, receive its world premiere on Nov. 18, 2021. The cycle will be performed by Marilyn Horne Song Competition Winners mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce and pianist Chien-Lin Lu in recital in Hahn Hall. Higdon will coach the new song cycle and attend the performance. There will also be a private pre-concert reception.

Then on Feb. 19 and 20, 2022, the Santa Barbara Symphony will present Higdon’s Grammy Award-winning Harp Concerto in the Granada Theatre.

Higdon served as a judge of the Music Academy of the West’s Marilyn Horne Song Competition in 2019, in preparation for her commission to create a new work for the winners to premiere the following season. She is one of America’s most highly acclaimed and frequently performed living composers.