Although Ellen Taaffe Zwilich has received more accolades than most living composers—the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music and the first composer chair at Carnegie Hall as well as the only living composer ever mentioned in a Peanuts® comic strip—she believes that the pinnacle of success is hearing a wonderful performance of one of her compositions. She considers herself primarily "somebody who writes music for people to play" and her greatest joy is interacting with performers. And to this day, she admits to feeling like "a kid in the candy shop" when she's writing music and will only embark on a compositional project if it gives her goose bumps.
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