Judith Lang Zaimont is a composer and teacher who was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1945. At an early age, Zaimont developed the remarkable ability to play by ear and sightread, and her family members even recall her singing in her sleep! Despite this talent, she didn’t like to “practice” her instrument in the traditional way: she didn’t want to play the same notes over and over again, she wanted to enjoy “messing around with the notes,” an interest which would eventually lead her down the path of music composition.
Zaimont’s compositions draw inspiration from both the old and new. She is known to use active and interesting textures, unexpected meter and character changes, and chromatic, post-tonal melodies and harmonies, giving her music a modern edge. In her own words, she enjoys “textures where there’s a lot of ‘stuff,’” which is an element that can be clearly heard in her tactile compositions. In unity with these more modern sounds, she still roots much of her music in recognizable structures and tonal centers, drawing from impressionist and romantic musical ideas of the past.
Zaimont has dedicated a lot of effort towards promoting women composers, especially tackling the absence of women composers in the repertoire taught in school curriculums and studios. To address this issue, she published a book titled **Contemporary Concert Music by Women** in 1981**,** as well as a critically acclaimed, three-volume book series titled **The Musical Woman: An International Perspective**
