She is the recipient of many awards, including a Pew Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and two awards from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. Her list of commissioners range from the Philadelphia Orchestra to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; from eighth blackbird to the Tokyo String Quartet; and from The President's Own Marine Band to such artists as Hilary Hahn. Higdon received a 2010 GRAMMY for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto. She holds the Rock Chair in Composition at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.