Judith Lang Zaimont Elegy for Strings to be Performed by Mississippi
Symphony on September 16 - Composer is Featured Speaker and Will Have
Major Piano Work Performed at College Music Society Conference in San
Antonio on Same Day

New York, NY - American composer Judith Lang Zaimont's 'Elegy for Strings'
will be performed by the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Crafton Beck,
Music Director and Conductor, on Saturday, September 16, 2006 - 7:30 PM
at Thalia Mara Hall, 255 E Pascagoula St. in Jackson, Misssissippi.
Other works on the program include Berlioz' 'Roman Carnival Overture',
Schumann's Cello Concerto (with guest soloist Daniel Gaisford) and
Respighi's 'Pines of Rome'.

The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra is the predominant performing arts
ensemble in the state, fortified by a strong complement of musicians,
a dynamic conductor, a dedicated Board of Directors, and Symphony League
volunteers.  The staff manages the operating budget of $1.5 million.  A
vital partnership has been forged between the MSO and the state it serves.
After more than 60 years, the MSO remains Mississippi's greatest cultural
force.  Visit them online at http://www.msorchestra.com.

'Elegy for Strings', written in 1998, was premiered in that year by the
New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Raffael Adler, conductor and has
also been performed by the Women's Philharmonic of San Francisco, the
Kremlin Chamber Orchestra of Moscow, Russia, the Czech Radio Orchestra
of Prague and the East Texas Symphony.  The work has been recorded by
the Czech Radio Orchestra for Arabesque Recordings.

Tickets for this concert are $40 and $25, with discounts
for children and seniors, and can be ordered from the MSO at
http://www.msorchestra.com/index.php?pageID=3Dtickets_single
or by calling 601-960-1565.

Also on September 16 at 10:30 AM, Judith Lang Zaimont will be giving the
Robert Trotter Lecture: 'Imaging the Composer in 2006', as part of the
College Music Society National Conference at the Crowne Plaza Riverwalk
Hotel in San Antonio, Texas.

Another feature of the conference will be a September 15 - 3:30 PM
performance by pianist Amy Tarantino of Ms.  Zaimont's 'Wizards - Three
Magic Masters'.  This performance in San Antonio is especially significant
as the piece was commissioned in 2003 as the required work for that
year's San Antonio International Piano Competition

For more about the CMS Conference, please visit
http://www.music.org/cgi-bin/showpage.pl.

Composer Judith Lang Zaimont is internationally recognized for her
distinctive style, characterized by its expressive strength and dynamism.
Recent accolades include a 2003 Aaron Copland Award, and a 2005-6 Artists
Fellowship from the Bush Foundation, and the 2006-7 Kaplan Foundation
wind ensemble commission; appointments as Commissioned Composer of the
California Music Teachers Association, Commissioned Composer for the
International San Antonio Piano Competition, and Honored Composer at the
11th Van Cliburn International Competition (2001).  Two new CDs of her
music are now available: 'Pure Colors', solo music and other works for
small ensembles (Albany Music - Troy 785) and 'Sacred Service for the
Sabbath Evening' and other major choral/orchestral works (Naxos 8.559444)

Among her many earlier honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, artist's
grants from both National Endowments (Arts and Humanities), and First
Prize in the international 1995 McCollin Competition for Composers (for
'Symphony No. 1', performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1996).
Her music is widely performed throughout the U.S. and Europe and has
been recorded for the Naxos, Koch International Classics, Arabesque,
Milken Family Foundation, Albany, Jeanne, Leonarda, Northeastern, and
4Tay labels.  Her principal publishers are MMB Music, Inc., Galaxy/ECS,
Vivace, Jeanne, C. F. Peters, Lyra and Walton.

Her music has been widely documented (12 doctoral papers to date),
and her biography is found in most standard reference works (e.g.,
New Grove's).  Zaimont works are cited on two 'Best of the 20th Century
lists' (Chamber Music America; Piano & Keyboard Magazine), and she is
the subject both of individual chapters in specialist volumes and major
articles in professional journals.  Judith Zaimont also brings outstanding
academic credentials to her musical activities, having served for many
years as a distinguished composition teacher at New York's Queens College
and Adelphi University, Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory, and Minneapolis's
University of Minnesota School of Music.  More information about Ms.
Zaimont, including sound clips of many of her compositions, is available
at her website http://www.jzaimont.com/.

She is represented by Jeffrey James Arts Consulting, who can be contacted
at 516-586-3433 or at [log in to unmask]

Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
Website: http://www.jamesarts.com