Editing Ned Rorem (section)

===2000–2022: Later years===
In the ''Times'', Daniel Lewis noted that "Well into the 21st century, when quite a few of his modernist critics had passed into irrelevance, Mr. Rorem was still going strong. Admirers turned up at concerts to help celebrate his 80th birthday, his 85th, his 90th, his 95th; the audiences looked that much older each time around, while he looked pretty much as always".{{sfn|Lewis|2022}} The music critic Steve Smith furthered that compared to the birthday anniversaries of [[Britten]], [[Verdi]] and [[Wagner]], "Mr. Rorem's birthday has occasioned less fanfare, seemingly confirming his oft-repeated assertions about the invisibility of living composers".{{sfn|Smith|2013}} This latter sentiment would be a focus of his tenure while president of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] from 2000 to 2003.{{sfn|Page|2022}}{{sfn|Johnson|2014|p=93}} During this time he engaged in a series of larger works, beginning with ''Aftermath'' (2002) a ten-part song cycle written in response to the [[September 11 attacks]].{{sfn|Lewis|2022}} Set to English-language poets from the 18th-century to present day, it was written for medium voice accompanied by violin, cello and piano.{{sfn|Song of America}} What followed next was concertante: a [[Cello Concerto (Rorem)|Cello Concerto]] (2002) and [[Flute Concerto (Rorem)|Flute Concerto]] (2002), both written in memory of Thomas Schippers.{{sfn|Johnson|2014|p=92}} His next concerto, the 2003 [[Mallet Concerto]], was compared by the writer Bret Johnson in its evocation and sparseness to his first two symphonies.{{sfn|Johnson|2014|p=92}} In 2006, his opera ''[[Our Town (opera)|Our Town]]'' premiered at the [[Indiana University]] Opera Theater, Bloomington.{{sfn|Lewis|2022}}

From 2010 onwards, Rorem essentially ceased composing, explaining that "I've kind of said everything I have to say, better than anyone else".{{sfn|Barone|2022}} Two exceptions were the 2013 song "How Like a Winter", based on Shakespeare's [[Sonnet 97]],{{sfn|Boosey & Hawkes}} as well as his final work, ''Recalling Nadia'', a brief organ piece written in 2014.{{sfn|Plymouth UCC Church|2021}} Regardless, Rorem himself noted that by then he didn't receive commissions, "but then, nobody I know does".{{sfn|Smith|2013}} His last years were instead spent in the care of his niece, playing piano, doing [[crossword puzzle]]s and walking through [[Central Park]].{{sfn|Barone|2018}} Rorem died at home in Manhattan on November 18, 2022, at age 99.{{sfn|Page|2022}}