Happy birthday, Shulamit Ran!

Wishing a very happy 75th birthday to Israeli-American composer Shulamit Ran!

Appointed by ninth music director Daniel Barenboim in conjunction with the Meet-the-Composer Orchestra Residencies Program, Ran served as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s second composer-in-residence from 1990 until 1997. During her tenure, she worked closely with music directors Sir Georg Solti and Barenboim, along with principal guest conductor Pierre Boulez.

In 1991, Ran became the second woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Symphony. Additionally, she has received multiple fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, grants and commissions from the Koussevitzky Foundation at the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fromm Music Foundation, Chamber Music America, the American Academy and Institute for Arts and Letters, and first prize in the Kennedy Center–Friedheim Awards competition for orchestral music, among numerous others. Between 1994 and 1997 she also was composer-in-residence with Lyric Opera of Chicago, where her residency culminated in the premiere of her first opera, Between Two Worlds (The Dybbuk). Associated with the University of Chicago since 1973, Ran currently holds the title of Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professor Emerita.

Works by Ran have been performed by the Orchestra on several occasions, as follows:

October 20, 21, 22, and 25, 1988, Orchestra Hall
RAN Concerto for Orchestra
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

December 12, 13, 14, and 17, 1991, Orchestra Hall
RAN Chicago Skyline
Pierre Boulez, conductor
World premiere. Commissioned by WFMT in celebration of the radio station’s 40th anniversary

October 7, 8, and 9, 1993, Orchestra Hall
RAN Legends for Orchestra
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
World premiere. Commissioned for the centennials of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the University of Chicago by the AT&T Foundation and Meet-the-Composer Orchestra Residencies Program

October 26, 27, and 28, 1995, Orchestra Hall
RAN Symphony
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

June 3, 4, 5, and 8, 2004, Orchestra Hall
RAN Legends for Orchestra
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

July 15, 2023, Ravinia Festival
RAN Chicago Skyline
Marin Alsop, conductor

A staunch advocate for contemporary music, Ran laid the groundwork for the creation of MusicNOW, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s new music concerts, and her works have been programmed on the series as follows:

January 24, 2001, Orchestra Hall
RAN Mirage
Cliff Colnot, conductor
Mary Stolper, flute
Larry Combs, clarinet
Baird Dodge, violin
Katinka Kleijn, cello
Amy Dissanayake, piano

May 8, 2006, Orchestra Hall
RAN Fault Line
Cliff Colnot, conductor
Tony Arnold, soprano
Jennifer Clippert, flute and piccolo
Michael Henoch, oboe
Eric Mandat, clarinet and bass clarinet
Wagner Campos, clarinet and bass clarinet
David Griffin, horn
Christopher Martin, trumpet
Joseph Rodriguez, trombone
Vadim Karpinos, percussion
Michael Kozakis, percussion
Amy Dissanayake, piano
Nathan Cole, violin
Akiko Tarumoto, violin
Yukiko Ogura, viola
Kenneth Olsen, cello
Michael Hovnanian, bass
World premiere. Commissioned for MusicNOW

October 2, 2017, Harris Theatre, Millennium Park
RAN Birkat Haderekh—Blessing for the Road
J. Lawrie Bloom, clarinet
Yuan-Qing Yu, violin
Kenneth Olsen, cello
Winston Choi, piano

Happy, happy birthday!

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