PHILADELPHIA – Pulitzer-Prize winning composer George Crumb, who taught at the University of Pennsylvania for more than 30 years, will be celebrated with a special concert in honor of his 80th birthday.

“George Turns 80 and Music at Penn,” the Orchestra 2001 salute to Crumb, will include performances of excerpts from his “American Songbook” series, all written for Orchestra 2001. It will also feature works of Penn music-composition faculty James Primosch, “Four Sacred Songs”; Jay Reise, “Chesapeake Rhythms”; and Anna Weesner, “The First Letter.” The Weesner work will be a premiere.

The concert will be held Friday, Sept. 25, at 8 p.m. at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 260 S. Broad St. in Philadelphia. A second performance is slated for Sunday, Sept. 27, at 3 p.m. at the Lang Concert Hall of Swarthmore College. Tickets are available online at www.ticketphiladelphia.org. Additional information is available at the O2001 office at 267-687-6243. Admission is free for college students with valid ID.

George Crumb’s name is synonymous with Penn’s Music Department. The soon-to-be octogenarian retired from Penn in 1997 as the Walter H. Annenberg Professor Emeritus in the Humanities, respected and beloved by former students, colleagues and music fans around the world. Crumb's reputation as a composer has made him one of the most frequently performed composers today. His honors include fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, Koussevitzky Foundation, National Institute of Arts and Letters and Guggenheim Foundation, as well as a Pulitzer Prize and a Grammy. He was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree from Penn in May 2009.