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Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra plays Pulitzer-winning composer’s homage to Charles Schulz

Contributed photo Ellen Taaffe Zwilich will appear at the HFSO American Masters concert that pays tribute to her Saturday, March 6.

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By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer Updated 7:58 PM Thursday, March 4, 2010

One of the best endorsements composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich ever received came from Peppermint Patty.

In the Oct. 13, 1990, “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles Schulz, Peppermint Patty and her pal Marcie are at a classical music concert.

Peppermint Patty looks bored — until Marcie mentions that the upcoming concerto was composed by a woman — Zwilich.

This prompts Peppermint Patty to stand on her chair and shout “Good going, Ellen!”

Now, as Zwilich sees it, she has another feather in her cap: being selected as the subject of the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra’s annual David L. Belew American Masters Concert on Saturday, March 6. Zwilich, the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in Music, plans to attend the concert. She is a professor at Florida State University.

“I don’t think a composer’s place is in an ivory tower. Music is a communicative art, and I’m thrilled to be embraced by the community in this way,” she said.

Paul Stanbery, the musical director of the orchestra, said the National Endowment for the Arts called in April 2009 and asked what was planned for the season. When Stanbery suggested a female composer, the NEA representative said, “We could easily fund that. No one in America is doing that!”

Stanbery chose Zwilich, having read about her for years.

The orchestra will play several Zwilich compositions, one of which is called “Peanuts Gallery,” which she wrote after Schulz paid tribute to her in his strip. The piano will be played by Kenneth Danielson, a senior at Talawanda High School.

“Peanuts” already had a distinct musical signature via the well-known themes of Vince Guaraldi. Therefore, Zwilich set about writing musical vignettes for piano and orchestra for the individual “Peanuts” characters. For instance, the often forlorn Charlie Brown has a theme called “Charlie Brown’s Lament,” which is “not exactly sad, but wistful,” Zwilich said. The crabby Lucy’s piece is appropriately called “Lucy Freaks Out.”

“Snoopy had to have a dance, so I thought of a Brazilian samba. It’s kind of hot and cool,” Zwilich said.

Other Zwilich pieces in the concert will include her “Concerto for French Horn” and her “Symphony No. 4,” an environmentally themed work she wrote after seeing the gardens at Michigan State University, “which are really quite phenomenal,” she said. It has four movements, each with its own ecological theme, like endangered plants or living fossils.

This will be the second ever public performance of that symphony, featuring the HFSO Chorale, children’s choirs from Hamilton City Schools and St. Peter in Chains School, and handbell choirs from several local churches.

Stanbery said Zwilich “goes against the grain of a lot of modern composers, and that kind of sets her off from the crowd. She’s very much a community-minded composer.”

For her part, Zwilich doesn’t like to think of herself in terms of musical styles. She’s much more interested in knowing what a person is about.

“I’m still discovering that, and I like that idea. There’s always something new coming up,” she said.

A free “Meet the Composer” preconcert event with Zwilich will take place at 10 a.m. today, March 5, at Parrish Auditorium at Miami University Hamilton. Seating will be limited. To register for the “Meet the Composer” event, please call the symphony office at (513) 895-5151.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.

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