Awards & Merit

Awards  & Honors - Composer

2017 Commissioned Composer for American Pianists Association quadrennial Classical Competition (APA).   New work ATTARS premiered by the 5 Finalist Pianists, April 2017.

The composer's imaginative rendering of something difficult to translate from olfactory to 
auditory   reality — the five essential oils — makes up a seven-minute piece that enthralled each time it was performed. -- Jay Harvey Upstage

2016  Commissioned Composer by  Close Encounters with Music for soprano and chamber ensemble to commemorate 100th Anniversary of NY State's vote authorizing women's  unlimited right to vote using an original libretto derived from the poetry of Emma Lazarus.   The Statue:  Emma - Hero of Exiles.  Scheduled premiere June 2017.
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2016  Composer Feature Interview in  FANFARE magazine by David DeBoor Canfield:  January-February issue and Sorel CD - PURE, COOL (Water)  Symphony No. 4  and Piano Trio No. 1  "Russian Summer" placed on Best- of-Year ”Want List"               

Throughout, the {symphony]  splendidly demonstrates her compositional craft, and ​ her  gift for melody and exquisite harmony.  Two masterworks.
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2016-2017 Third Prize awarded to Pure, Cool (Water) - Symphony No. 4  from The American Prize in Orchestral
Composition
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2015 First Prize awarded to STRING Quartet 'The Figure' from the American Prize in Chamber Music Composition

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2015 Commission from Three Bridges International Festival for major work for dramatic tenor and chamber orchestra to commemorate Vice President Walter Mondale, to an original libretto derived from the poetry of Louis Jenkins. 
​ MONDALE CYCLE
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2014 Master Composer in Residence at Cairn University. Major speech, masterclass, Pennsylvania premiere of
​ CHROMA - Northern Lights

2014  Composer Profile  #2 by Kimberly Greene in IAWM Journal:  September-October
Judith Lang Zaimont: Part II: The Consummate Composer

Although it is impossible to gauge the extent of a composer’s personality by only listening to her music, by examining her compositional voice and methods, and through extensive examination of the body of her interviews, reviews of her works and other literature and conversations, the measure of her artistic character materializes. Accordingly, Zaimont remains driven by her impassioned and penetrating intellect and creative energy, exacting of herself and her creative associates in the adherence to the highest artistic and performance standards, and fearless of the obstacles or hindrances in the pursuit of the realization of her art. Her music engages and challenges the audience due to the depth of the intellectual and emotional content and to its propensity to forge uncharted aesthetic domains, creating works through new musical languages that generate unprecedented artistic effects. As a consequence, Zaimont has attained the status of an internationally recognized composer.

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 2013 Composer Profile #1 by Susan Cohn Lackman  in IAWM Journal:  September-October,  Judith Lang Zaimont

Take a brilliant and inquisitive mind, add performing and creative musical talent, ​ then layer it with unquenchable energy and unflagging confidence, and the result is Judith Lang Zaimont.

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2013  Third Prize awarded to CONCERTO for Piano and Wind Orchestra 'Solar Traveller'
​ from The American Prize in Orchestral Composition

2012  First Prize from Tempus Continuum Ensemble (New York) awarded to  Doubles  for oboe and piano

2012  First Prize from Third Millennium Ensemble  (Washington, DC / Baltimore) awarded to  Serenade   violin, cello, piano

2012   Commission from Camerata Bern  (Switzerland)  to honor the orchestra’s  50 Anniversary 
         (one of three international composers commissioned)
             JoyDance in Spring  ​

The CAMERATA BERN's strings performed JoyDance in Spring with great dedication, relishing in its lavish sonorities, accented attacks and optimistic mood. During the rehearsals, they had praised the composer’s flair for string-writing and orchestration, as well as the communicative happiness and optimism that the piece carries. At the end of the performance, the Geneva public expressed it's appreciation with warm and long-lasting applause as well as hearty "bravos" -   Louis Dupras.

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2012 “Composer of the Month” WFIU Public Media  (Indiana ): January

2012   Master Composer in Residence at University of Minnesota – School of Music .
​ CONCERTO for Piano and Wind Orchestra 'Solar Traveller' state premiere.
3 concerts, 4 masterclasses. Israeli Rhapsody  state premiere

2012  WIZARDS - Three Magic Masters selected for Repertoire List of 2012 ,   William Kapell Piano Competition   

2012  Central Composer - All-Zaimont recital by Elizabeth Moak at Marsh Auditorium,  Hattiesburg, MS: March  
Program devoted to Zaimont solo piano music.    Excerpts from A Calendar Set, American City: Portrait of New York, Jupiter’s Moons,  Sonata and  Wizards.

2012  Composer Interview Minnesota Public Radio. Steve Staruch, interviewer: February

2012  STRING QUARTET 'The Figure'  at Jordan Hall, Boston. State premiere by the  Harlem Quartet: February  

2012   A Calendar Set  - 12 Virtuosic Preludes Sagrestia Vault, Malta  Christopher Atzinger, National Pemiere: July

2012  WIZARDS – Three Magic Masters  Steinway Artists Series - Tampa, FL,  State premiere  by  Young-Ah  Tak

2012  A Calendar Set  - 12 Virtuosic Preludes Washington DC premiere at  Smithsonian -  American Art Museum.  Christopher Atzinger: June

2012 WIZARDS – Three Magic Masters New York premiere at Carnegie Hall, Young-Ah  Tak: February

2012  Composer Interview Minnesota Public Radio. Steve Staruch, interviewer: February

 2011  Composer Feature Interview in  FANFARE magazine  by David DeBoor Canfield:  September- October issue  and ETERNAL EVOLUTION  Music of Judith Lang Zaimont
​ PARMA/Navona  expanded CD placed on Best- of-Year ”Want List“·    

I have had a most enjoyable time in searching for, and listening to, as many of her works as I could find.   I was not able to locate a single work of hers that I would rate any less than “most impressive….   She writes fluently in many musical idioms from rags and beguines to works using advanced, complex language.  One truly never knows what to expect in a new work from the pen of this composer,  other than that it will be a finely-crafted work, brimming with inspired ideas and effects

​. 

2011  WIZARDS – Three Magic Masters  at State Botanical Gardens, Athens, GA , State premiere by  Elizabeth Moak: Oct.

2011  STRING QUARTET 'The Figure'  at Museum of Modern Art, New York , NY City premiere by  Juilliard New Music Ensemble: July

 2011  Major Award  to Serenade for  violin, cello, piano at  “Soli fan tutti”  Finale Concert  Staatstheater, Darmstadt, Germany  (also national premiere: May)

2011   WIZARDS – Three Magic Masters  at Conservatorio del Vina, Chile,  National première by Janet Norman: April

2011   “Composer of the Month”  WKPC –FM  (San Antonio  Public Radio): March

2011  Music for Two  (bassoon and cello) Chandler Symphony Orchestra: Chandler Center for the Arts  (Chandler, AZ)  State premiere

2010 Central Composer for contemporary festival “Intégrales”
(University of Southern Mississippi): Masterclasses, deliver university-wide
Honors Lecture "Upon First Listening”
State premiere: Homeland - Wind Quintet No. 2 
State premiere: CONCERTO for Piano and Wind Orchestra ‘Solar Traveller’
Cortège for Jack  World  Première, other works:  November

2010  Serenade  for piano trio world premiere Cincinnati College Conservatory: December
Melissa White, Paul Wiancko, Awadagin Pratt.
String Quartet ‘The Figure’  State Première  Harlem Quartet 

2010 Composer in  Residence Slippery Rock University, supported by a MetLife
Creative Connections grant through Meet the Composer:  April.
Lecture  “Considering STYLE”   
Sate Premier: CONCERTO for Piano and Wind Orchestra ‘Solar Traveller’

2010 Wind Quintet No. 2 ‘Homeland’ Middle Tennessee  State University (Murfreesboro)
Category 5  Woodwind Quintet State Premiere

2009 Featured Composer in Residence Peabody Conservatory (Johns Hopkins University)
Masterclasses, interviews: November
Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra ‘Solar Traveller’  World Premiere

2009  Featured Composer  at the biennial ATHENA FESTIVAL  (Murray State University, Kentucky) 
Lecture, masterclasses, all-Zaimont concert.
Seminar on her style, and delivery of Festival Keynote Address:  March

2009 Invited Composer Lecture  "The Music of Fanny Hensel and Judith Zaimont"
Lenox Athenaeum, Lenox, Massachusetts  Lecture and performance:  March  

2009  Central Composer Biennial  WOMEN in MUSIC Festival at the Eastman School of Music. Zaimont music and commentary featured during the 3-day Festival: Lectures, masterclasses, open rehearsals, radio, community intersections, all-Zaimont concert, additional  performances.
2 World Premiers: 
ASTRAL for Violin Solo –Anyango Davenport                                                                                                     
Housewife – Eastman Women’s Chorus, commissioned through the Hanson Fund

2009 Composer in Residence  Indiana State University: December
Masterclasses, Video Interviews, state premiere of  CONCERTO for Piano and Wind Orchestra ‘Solar Traveller

2009 Music Included in Notations 21 ( ed. Theresa Sauer; pub. Mark Batty Publisher), Excerpt from STONE

2008 Selective Commission from  Universal Sacred Music Foundation.
Text assemblage by the composer  from statements of faith from religions around the world.  The Spirit Moves IN Me 

2008 Museum of Modern Art. STRING QUARTET 'The Figure' New York City premiere,
 by Juilliard Contemporary Music Ensemble.

2007 Commission from Nicola Melville for new recording/publication project for Innova (ACF) Hitchin’ – a travellin’ groove 

2007  Commission  by the Portland  Symphonic Choir - REMEMBERANCE. 

2006-7  Festival Commission through Andrew G. Mellon Foundation for  STRING QUARTET 'The Figure'.
 World Premieres by Harlem Quartet  at Syracuse university & Cornell University:  September

2005-6 Biennial Competitive Commission awarded by the Helen and Sam Kaplan Charitable Foundation
for college wind ensemble piece on Jewish themes.
Israeli Rhapsody.  World Premiere  2007; selected by Virginia All-State Band  2009

2005 Artist Fellowship in Music Composition – Adolphus Bush Foundation awarded to artists who demonstrate “strong vision, creative energy and perseverance”.

2005 First Prize  in American Composers Invitational Composition Competition (Jabez Press, TX) 
 A  CALENDAR  SET – 12 Virtuosic Preludes. (pub. March 2007) (Half-hour radio interview to launch publication)

 2005  Keynote Featured Composer -  St. Louis Festival of Women in the Arts
Masterclasses, lecture, recitals

2005 Guest Composer University of Wyoming - Laramie Masterclass and lecture,  STILLNESS state premiere

 2005 Featured Composer International New Music Festival (Florida State University GROWLER  state premiere

2003-2005  Named National Board Member for Composition for the College Music Society

2001 - 2004 Founder and Co-Director of new AMERICAN ACCENT ensemble. Dedicated to repeat performances at the highest artistic and interpretative level of significant chamber-music works composed by Americans of the present and recent past. Multi-concert season in New York City. Featuring Lark Quartet, Joanne Polk, and Alan Kay.   

2004  Zaimont work included as scoring assignment in 3rd edition of Samuel Adler's, The Study of Orchestration teaching package.  Jazz Waltz  from Suite Impressions 

2004  Feature Interview in Chamber Music magazine: January
Kyle Gann: "American Composer Profile of Judith Lang Zaimont"

Her music is described music as "subtle, vigorous... elegantly professional [and] deeply felt" and the range in her works as "capable of thorny abstraction, but also of light atmosphere and humor.... In some ineffable way, they all sound like her, and all very musical."
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2004 Guest Lecturer   for Minneapolis Music Teacher Association, "New music for wind ensemble" (City Rain)   

2003 Aaron Copland Award Residency at Copland House (spring 2004).
Complete orchestra work and Commission for a chamber piece
From the Folk
STILLNESS -- Poem for Orchestra   

2003 Feature Interview in Clavier: April

2003 Commissioned Composer   of required work for San Antonio International Piano Competition:
​ WIZARDS -- Three Magic Masters
Two composer seminars and one-hour profile on Texas Public Radio (January 2004)

2003 Profiled on two-part Minnesota Public Radio program celebrating women composers.
Zaimont "The May-fly" (from Calendar Collection) used as title music for entire 3-year series.

2003 Commissioned Composer by Music Teachers Association of California
In My Lunchbox - Suite for Developing Pianist  world premiere

2003 Featured Composer   College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Symposium
world  premiere of TATTOO  (from SYMPHONY for Wind Orchestra in Three Scenes) 

2003  Keynote Address  for Minnesota ‘Classical Listening List’ competition project sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio 

2003 Recording Grant from American Music Center

2002 Featured Composer/ Commissioned Composer  for National Symposium on Women Composers at Millsaps College (Jackson, Mississippi) Virgie Rainey -- Two Narratives for Soprano, Mezzo and Piano

2002 Commissioned Composer  and Composer of the Year for National Federation of Music Clubs : national convention, Summer   Keynote Address, lectures, symposia, performances.

2002 Recording grant from Ditson Fund   

2002 Composer Masterclass  Brooklyn College/Conservatory: March

2002 Commissioned Composer  to honor the 100th anniversary of the University of Minnesota’s
School of Music.  SYMPHONY for Wind Orchestra in Three Scenes

2002 Competitive Commission from Minnesota Commissioning Club for the Bergen Wind Quintet (Norway) 
Wind Quintet No. 2 – “Homeland

2001-02  "Australis" (from Sky Curtains) named as Featured Contemporary Work for Minnesota Classical Listening Competition, 2001-2002 :  project of Minnesota Public Radio

2001   Named "Honored Composer"  in 1st American Composers Invitational competition:11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition;  June.  Impronta Digitale selected and performed by five semifinalists, including the two Gold Medal winners, Stanislav Ioudenitch and Olga Kern.

2001  ELEGY for Symphonic Strings selected as required competition work for
the Vahktan Jordania Millennium Conductors Competition,  Kharkov, the Ukraine: September

2001 Commissioned Composer for BandQuest series from American Composers Forum - City Rain

2001 Guest Composer  Masterclass. Manhattan School of Music: April

2000  Zaimont works selected for 2  Century Lists:
            Chamber Music America – Doubles
            Piano &  Keyboard  magazine – Sonata

2000 Millennium Commission from Chamber Music America for Ensemble Capriccio - SPIRALS for String Trio 

2000  A Closed Fist  (from SPIRALS) selected for the cover of The College Music Society's publication Reflections on American Music: The Twentieth Century and The New Millennium (Pendragon Press, October ).

2000  Commissioned Composer  for Focus on Piano Literature 2000 - University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 
​ Jupiter's Moons

1999 Composer Masterclass University of California - Los Angeles: May

1999 Composer of the Year / Commissioned Composer  University of Wisconsin - River Falls: April
  Lecture, masterclasses, all-Zaimont concert featuring PARALLEL PLAY world premiere

1996-97 Skidmore College Filene Artist in Residence - Lectures, masterclasses, 4 independent residencies,
world premiere of MEDITATIONS At the Time of the New Year 

1996  First Prize McCollin International Composers Competition (Philadelphia Orchestra)  for Symphony No. 1

1996  Composer in Residence Fairfield University,  Lectures, world premiere of VOICES

1995  Featured Composer / Scholar in Residence at Georgia State University /
Agnes Scott College: also delivered  Phi Beta Kappa inaugural address /
Clayton State University /

1995 First Prize International Alliance for Women in Music  Recording Award - Neon Rhythm CD

1995 John Castellini Silver AnniversaryAward Awarded to distinguished music alumni of Queens College, CUNY

1995 Principal Composer Society of Composers International (SCI) national conference performances f Doubles and Parable

1994-95  Commissioned Composer of the Year University of Alabama (Huntsville)
3 independent residencies, lectures, masterclasses  
world premiere of ZONES -- Piano Trio No. 2 ,  commissioned for Silver Anniversary of Huntsville Chamber Music Society.

1995  Commissioned Composer and Composer in Residence University of Wisconsin (Stevens Point)
Lectures, world premiere of Symphony No. 1 by Central Wisconsin Symphony

1994 Principal Composer for annual  Contemporary Music Symposium University of Wisconsin (Eau Claire)  
​Masterclass, all-Zaimont concert

1993  Commissioned Composer -- Artists International Prize Commission  and
 American Composers Forum Commission  for Lisa Kozenko 
Carnegie Hall world premiere  of Doubles

1993 Keynote Speaker and Commissioned Composer  Sigma Alpha Iota, national convention. 
Même  world premiere

1992 Visiting Composer   Oberlin College, state premiere of From the Great Land

1991  Principal Composer -- New Music Week  Dayton University

1991 Principal Composer Indiana University of Pennsylvania 
Women in Music Symposium. Performances; world premiere of VESSELS

1990  First Prize Friends and Enemies of New Music Competition (national) Dance/Inner Dance 

1990  Masterclass Manhattan School of Music, NY

1989 10th  Anniversary Commissioned Composer - Skaneateles Festival
World premiere  of  Piano Trio No. 1 - Russian Summer

1988 Selective Commission and Remrys Foundation Award  for
Greenville Symphony Orch. NC .  World premiere of MONARCHS 

1988 Biennial Competitive Award and Fellowship from
National League of American Pen Women   for Parable : A Tale of Abram and Isaac

1988  "Nocturne: La Fin de Siècle" chosen for the repertoire list

1988 General Motors/ Seventeen Magazine competition

1988 Commissioned Composer --Artists International Prize for
Vox Nova Wind Quintet . Carnegie Hall world premiere of When Angels Speak 

1987 Mayor's Award for Creativity - City of Baltimore,  Hidden Heritage -- A Dance Symphony

1987 Commissioned Composer by Peggy and Yale Gordon Trust for Baltimore Dance Theatre. world  premieres at Baltimore Museum of Art  of HIDDEN HERITAGE:  A Dance Symphony :  July

1987 Paul Revere Prize  from Music Publishers Association  to Galaxy Music Corp. for The Chase

1986 Guest Composer  - Conductors' Guild Conductor and Composer Institute:"Sky Curtains “Borealis”

1986 Creative Fellowship in Music Maryland State Arts Council biennial competition

1986  First Prize.  National Competition for Chamber Orchestra to Honor the Statue of Liberty Centennial Chroma 'Northern Lights'

1985 Teacher of the Year   Peabody Conservatory of Music

1985  First Prize  Georgia State University Centennial Competition (national) Sky Curtains

1983/4  Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for Music Composition

1982 Consortium Commission:  National Endowment for the Arts from choral groups in US and Canada for Lamentation

1978  Wind/String Prize  Los Alamos International Chamber Music Competition Songs of Innocence

1977 - present ASCAP Standard Awards

 1971 and 1976  MacDowell Colony Fellowships  for composer residencies

1971 and 1974  Delius Competition Prizes, Grand Tarantella  and  Snazzy Sonata

1972  Third Prize Pittsburgh Flute Club Competition   Capriccio

1971-72 Debussy Fellowship for 1-year orchestration study abroad  from Alliance Française de New York

1969  First Prize - Gold Medal  Gottschalk Centenary Composition  Competition Man's Image and His Cry

1967/8 Anton Seidl Fellowship For Composition Study at Columbia University

1966/7  Woodrow Wilson National Foundation Fellowship For Graduate Study in Composition

1966 BMI Young Composer Award Four Songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Piano

1966 and  1965/6 Karol Rathaus Memorial Association Prize and 
​ 2 Alter Machlis Awards  Queens College, CUNY

1958 - 1970  10 composition prizes  from National Federation of Music Clubs 

Awards   &  Honors  -  Writer

“Embracing New Music”  (Published  in American Music Teacher, Sept. 2008)
2009 Article of the Year award by Music Teachers National Association
 presented  April 1, 2009 -- MTNA National Convention, Atlanta, Georgia

The Musical Woman : An International Perspective
Vol I: 406 pps. (1994) , Vol. II: 557 pps, (1987), Vol III: 816 pps. (1991)
Published by Greenwood Press

Pauline Alderman First Prize (1993) -- For contents and editing;  International musicology award from International Alliance
for Women in Music "for broad scholarship at its best."

National Endowment for the Humanities (1989) grant: For development of Interpretive Research
​ The Musical Woman, Volume III

 As Creator and Editor-in-Chief of The Musical Woman, Zaimont designed this critically acclaimed series as a unique publication devoted to continuing comprehensive coverage of women's contributions to music world-wide. For her work on "Women in Music," Zaimont also received a Certificate of Appreciation from the International Congress on Women
in Music at its Tenth Anniversary International Convocation (1990).

Critical comment on The Musical Woman series:

"Highly recommended...serious, lively work" -- Library Journal

"Informative, and well-nigh all-inclusive." -- Musical America

"A useful and valuable compilation. Many of the articles present the
results of new and groundbreaking research."  - College Music Society Report

"Its overall quality is impressive, and its significance for both
women's studies and American music is indisputable." - American Music

"This book should be required reading for anyone who is interested in
the status of women in the music field. Every essay is a gem." - American Music Teacher

"The most comprehensive and substantial compendium[s] on the subject
of women in music. A must read." - Fontes Artis Musicae