Orchestral Music
 Chroma: Northern Lights (1986)
1-1-1-1; 1-0-0-0; perc; strings    (11:00)
Publisher: Subito Music Corp.
* First Prize  - National Competition for Chamber Orchestra to honor of the Statue of Liberty Centennial
First Performance: Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, April 1986.
Others: Westchester Chamber Orchestra; Jacksonville Symphony; Nassau Symphony Orchestra; Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra; Cleveland Chamber Orchestra
“Chroma—Northern Lights is scored for only single woodwinds, horn, percussion, and strings. Zaimont commands these resources with impressive authority and skill.” -- Jeremy Marchant, FANFARE
“Dynamism and shifting images that transfix the listener.” 
– Canfield, FANFARE
“A fascinating study in orchestral textures and rhythm. The music has a cell of three bars that gets stretched and tossed throughout the musical texture with fine woodwind writing on display throughout.  Though filled with nervous energy, the piece closes rather quietly but well-thought out in its minute-long final bars.”   - CINEMUSICAL
"Using the broad palette of the orchestra to capture the visual patterns of the Aurora Borealis, Zaimont proves herself a sensitive symphonic colorist much in the manner of Debussy or Ravel."  - NEWSDAY
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1972)
piano solo; 3-3-3-3; 4-2-3-1; timp-perc; strings    (32:00
Publisher: Fleisher Collection
ELEGY for Symphonic Strings (2000)  
Publisher: Lauren Keiser Music Publishing     (9:40)
First Performance: New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Raffael Adler, cond. - March 1998.
Others: Women's Philhamornic (San Francisco), Kremlin Chamber Orchestra (Moscow, Russia), Czech Radio Orchestra, East Texas Symphony, Chinese National Orchestra (2008).
This is music of profundity, and surely is destined to survive for future generations to enjoy.”   - Canfield, FANFARE
"A very beautiful 9-minute Elegy, introspective and emotionally pure (though harmonically luxuriant in its much-divided string textures).  - Lehman, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
 “Zaimont’s divisi string writing is often gorgeous and always  commanding.”  – Jeremy Marchant
  "Elegy" is structured as a continuously building song. Long stretches of melody and melodic fragments come together and the overall effect is a larger, plaintive and emotionally gripping whole.   - Daniel R. Coombs
JoyDance in Spring (2012)
String Orchestra with sectional soli   (4:00)

Publisher:  Subito Music Corp.
*Commissioned by CAMERATA BERN in honor of its  50th Anniversary
First Performance: Geneva 2012.  Others: Monaco, elsewhere in Europe
 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
Man's Image and His Cry (1968)
baritone and alto soli; chorus SSATB; 2-2-2-2; 2-2-2-0; perc; strings    (20:00)

Publisher: composer
* Gold Medal - First Prize in Gottschalk Centenary Competition
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Monarchs: Movement for Orchestra (1988)
pic-2-2-Eng hn-Eb cl-2-b cl-2; 4-3-3-1; 4 perc-piano; strings     (15:00)
Publisher: Subito Music Corp.
*Commissioned by the Emrys Foundation
First Performance: Greenville (SC) Symphony, April 1988
Others: (Bay Area) Women's Philharmonic
"A work that utilizes with persuasive eloquence a wide range of orchestral colors and compositional techniques. Zaimont lays out in clear display her formal concepts, contained masterfully by a centrifugal moving tonality that never lacks direction."  - The GREENVILLE (SC) NEWS
"Monarchs, composed in 1988, is perhaps the most arresting piece by Zaimont known to me. No indication of the significance of the title is given in the program notes, so it could refer to either rulers or butterflies, as far as we know. The notes do, however, suggest that the single, 18-minute movement falls loosely into sonata-allegro form, although it gives the impression of being through-composed, with a continually shifting yet convincingly coherent succession of colorful and imaginative sound images. This is one of the most satisfying works from the late 1980s that I have heard...."  - Walter Simmons, FANFARE
Mondale Cycle  (2016)
dramatic tenor and chamber orchestra (strings) - four movements   (32:00)

Text:  original libretto by the composer from poems by Louis Jenkins
Publisher: Subito Music Corp.
*Commissioned by Three Bridges International Festival
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Pure, Cool (Water) - Symphony No. 4 (2012-2013)
2-2-2- bass cl-2   1-4-3-1   timp + 3 perc.  strings  (46:00) 
in  a current  ( The River  )  - flowing, full
as  a  solid  ( Ice ) - abstract; primarily quiet unfoldings but with outbursts
falling drops  ( Rainshower  ) - off-center multi-meter scherzo featuring percussion
still ( The Tarn )  -  melody-rich
in  waves  and  torrents  ( Ocean  and  Waterfall )  - event-filled; dramatic or serene by turns
 
            =  individual movements may be programmed separately as tone poems =
Publisher: Subito Music Corp.
*Commissioned  retrospectively by The Sorel Organization (2014 Commissioned Composer Award)
First performance  (The River):  Missouri Symphony, Kirk Trevor cond., July 2015
First performance of entire work: Janacek Philharmonic, Niels Muus cond. - Dec. 2015 (Vienna)
Others:  Janacek Philharmonic (Ostrava and elsewhere)
A symphony that is evocative, full of variety, power, subtlety and forward movement…. Throughout,  this whole work is finely and distinctively orchestrated. This is an impressive and worthwhile release.  - CLASSICAL REVIEWER online
A completely winsome piece…. Full-bodied,…. impressively robust and expressive music ….  Zaimont knows what she’s doing here.  Indeed, Zaimont works with an orchestral canvas in a painterly way, responding to the specific colors of each orchestral section to suit her particular sense of her subject matter, thus, the five movement  [Symphony] is divided into musical depictions of a river, ice, a rain shower, a tarn and the ocean.  - Burwasser, FANFARE 
A musical representation of the word water permeates this entire composition. Zaimont portrays the substance through a short-long motive, accented on the short note, similar to how the word is pronounced. The motive is expressed in various ways throughout the five movements.

Throughout, the work splendidly demonstrates her compositional craft, and her gift for melody and exquisite harmony.… Profoundly moving. 

This work stands very proudly in the company of other masterpieces by composers such as Debussy, Bridge, Britten, and Vaughan Williams devoted to the sea and other bodies of water, and certainly deserves to be widely performed and appreciated.  - DeBoor Canfield, FANFARE
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REMEMBER ME: Symphony No. 2 for Symphonic Strings (2001) 
1. Ghosts
2. Elegy
3. Dancin' over my grave

Publisher: Lauren Keiser Music Publishing
First Performance: New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Raffael Adler, cond. - March 1998.
Others: Women's Philharmonic (San Francisco), Kremlin Chamber Orchestra (Moscow, Russia), Czech Radio Orchestra, East Texas Symphony.
Ghosts:  Creates a kaleidoscope of sound. It’s quite a thrilling piece.  - Bob Briggs,  MUSICWEB  INTERNATIONAL
The music is engaging, compelling, and satisfying.
  - Simmons, FANFARE
This is music of profundity, and surely is destined to survive for future generations to enjoy.  – Canfield
Zaimont’s divisi string writing is often gorgeous and always  commanding.  – Jeremy Marchant
One need not know, or recognize the stylistic ghosts here to appreciate Zaimont’s superb orchestration or deft handling of thematic material.  The accessibility of her own musical language also allows for a captivating entry into her soundworld.  What is interesting most in this movement is not the sense of dissolution of musical pasts, but the aural discovery of possible new directions for tonal music.  - Jeremy Marchant,  CINEMUSICAL
Elegy:   An impassioned work composed in long arch-like segments that spin out continuously… the effect is mesmerizing.  – CINEMUSICAL
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Sacred Service for the Sabbath Evening (1976)  
baritone (or alto) solo; chorus SSATB; 2(pic)-2 (Eng hn)-2-2; 2--2-2-0; timp-piano; strings    (72:00)
Publisher: Galaxy Music Corporation (E.C. Schirmer)
*Oratorio commissioned by the Great Neck Choral Society, in honor of the US Bicentennial.
First Performance: June 1976, Great Neck, NY.
Other Performance: Princeton Pro Musica; Ernst Senfft Chor; others worldwide
“Zaimont finds gold. Though she, like Bloch, strikes an epic note, it's her own epic note.

     Her orchestration in particular is striking,  very French. She builds firmly over larger spans. Nothing meanders. All her lines give you the feeling that they lead somewhere, and the destination, though unpredictable, seems right once you arrive. She's not afraid of dissonance, but she's also not shy about writing a good tune. Yet the tune is hardly ever the point of her work. All the compositional elements – melody, harmony, rhythm, color, and motific argument tend to find a hierarchical equilibrium.

     The choral writing throughout cannily mixes declamatory, homophonic passages with simple, clear contrapuntal ones. Zaimont concerns herself with making the text intelligible, even through large orchestral and vocal resources.

     My favorite movement, the fourth ("Why do we deal treacherously"), sets off squibs of stretti and jazzy syncopations in the chorus against the soloist, who repeats the same tune throughout – the "answer" to the choral question: "Seek good, not evil, that ye may live." The movement pays tribute to Zaimont's skill not only in marshalling all her forces, but also in her handling of the solo repetition, which never sounds merely repetitive.  Rather, we get a drama between chorus and solo, with the answer struggling for resolution and finally emerging from a choral disintegration into whispers.”   -  Classical Net
"Judith Lang Zaimont has brought a new and exciting voice to liturgical music. Her ideas are fresh; her combination of voice with text, added to her considerable skills in choral and orchestral writing have created a memorable composition." - Canton Paul Kwartin, Cantica Hebraica
"The Sacred Service sings out with a new and startling beauty. It inspires and disturbs as it brings to us one of America's most important new talents."  - Cantor Arthur S. Koret, Emanuel Synagogue, Hartford, CT
"Zaimont's new setting of 'Sacred Service' proved to be a beautiful, musically rewarding piece which held the audience's interest throughout and won an ovation at the finish. Her score is complex yet always accessible and expressive. The music invariably seemed to fit the words. . . which came alive in glowing or intensely moving fashion. Zaimont's orchestration was also impressive. She used all the sections to excellent advantage and blended them in skillful fashion." 
- THE TRENTON TIMES
"The star of the evening was a performance of Judith Zaimont's Sacred Service for the Sabbath Evening. The work is an oratorio using the text of the third Sabbath Evening Service from The Union Prayer Book for Jewish Worship found in Reform synagogues. The orchestration was extremely colorful. The writing was always interesting and never trite. Filled with traditional harmonies, the piece is extremely accessible and received a glorious realization from the Pro Musica chorus and soloist David Arnold."  - PRINCETON PACKET
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STILLNESS - Poem for Orchestra (2005)   
2-2-2-2 (with standing auxiliaries) // 4-2-2-1 // hrp // tymp. + 1 perc // stgs (14')
Publisher: Subito Music Corp.
*Composed at Copland House in spring 2004 (Aaron Copland Award work).
“A highly rewarding work that engages the interest of the listener throughout…  shot through with  colorful orchestral writing, melodic inventiveness, and Zaimont-ian textural shifting.” – Canfield
“Fascinating and brilliantly-colored … consistently engrossing. “ - Simmons
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Symphony No. 1 (1994)
3-3-3-3; 4-3-3-1; harp; piano; 4 perc; strings   (28:00)
Publisher - Subito Music Corp.
* First Prize in 1996 McCollin International Competition for Composers
* Commissioned by the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra
First Performance: April 1994
Others: Philadelphia Orchestra - subscription series, January 1996.
"This three-movement work is made of primary colors, bold sweeps of sound, widely spaced and often consonant brass chords. They proclaimed a central musical idea that moved through the entire work and blossomed in the jaunty march tune that closes it. Zaimont exploits the true sound of the trumpet and trombone, the violas and the sweetness of the violin's upper strings. The broad range of percussion instruments included nothing exotic, just brass, skins and wood. The music was an affirmation of the elements of the orchestra. The work often proposed lyrical, woodwind ideas and string passages of flowing grace. They were spaced by big, bronzy chords and interjections and percussive outbursts. The march that closes the works uses intricacy to suggest simplicity. Its opening tested everyone's agility and rhythmic security before it turned into a winning march tune. The composer took the stage at the end to face an enthusiastic audience."  - Daniel Webster, THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
"Enriched post-tonal harmonies and kaliedoscopic scoring convey a joyful sensibility...unpredictable yet sensuous and effusive." 
  - AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
"The three-movement half-hour-long Symphony is a gorgeously-scored creation. I., a 12-minute moderato, begins softly with a spell-casting shimmering, out of which emerge fleeting, evocative wisps (most notably an oboe tunelet over sighing strings) and, soon after, more aggressive and turbulent gestures (some with jazz inflected syncopations). These two elements are intermingled and contrasted with enough surprise and complexity in an original form that yet feels uniform and convincing. II, an adagio, is a richly-scored chorale interrupted by a nocturnal scherzo, while the Finale (marked simply Brisk) finally and for once announces (if briefly) a straightforward melody -- a high-spirited can-can." 
- Lehman, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
Tarantelle (1985)
 2pic-2-2-Eng hn-2-2; 4-2-3-1; 3 perc; strings  (7:00)

Publisher : Galaxy Music Corporation (E.C. Schirmer)
*Commissioned by the (Johns) Hopkins Symphony
First Performance: March 1985
Others: Harrisburg Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Madison (WI) Symphony
"The piece is awash with drama and tone color."
  - HOPKINS NEWS-LETTER
"A frothy French frolic . . . filled with color."
- BALTIMORE EVENING SUN
 
Man's Image and His Cry (1968)
baritone and alto soli; chorus SSATB; 2-2-2-2; 2-2-2-0; perc; strings    (20:00)
Publisher: composer
* Gold Medal - First Prize in Gottschalk Centenary Competition