Jessie Montgomery
Jessie Montgomery (born December 8, 1981, New York City) is an American violinist, composer, chamber musician, and music educator. Her compositions focus on the vernacular, improvisation, language, and social justice. She is the 2025 Classical Woman of the Year, awarded by the radio program Performance Today.
Early life and education
[edit]Jessie Montgomery, who is of African American heritage, was raised in Manhattan's Lower East Side by playwright and performer Robbie McCauley and composer Ed Montgomery. She began her violin studies at the Third Street Music School Settlement. She holds a bachelor's degree in violin performance from the Juilliard School, and completed a master's degree in Composition for Film and Multimedia at New York University in 2012.[1]
Starting in 1999, Montgomery became involved with the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit-based nonprofit that supports young African American and Latino string players. After receiving multiple Sphinx awards and grants as a young performer and composer, she now serves as composer-in-residence for the Sphinx Virtuosi, the organization's professional touring ensemble.[2]
Career
[edit]Montgomery devoted her early career to performance and to teaching at organizations such as Community MusicWorks in Providence, Rhode Island.[3] She co-founded the string ensemble PUBLIQuartet in 2010, and performed with the Catalyst Quartet until January 2021.[4]
She has increasingly focused on composing solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral works. Montgomery has completed commissions for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra,[5] the Albany Symphony, the Sphinx Organization,[6] the Joyce Foundation, the National Choral Society, and The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. She has received additional grants and awards from the ASCAP Foundation, Chamber Music America, American Composers Orchestra, and the Sorel Organization. Her music has been performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,[7] the Philharmonia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony, and choreographed by the Dance Theatre of Harlem.[8]
In 2014, New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini highlighted her piece Banner for solo string quartet and string ensemble, commissioned by the Sphinx Organization and the Joyce Foundation as a response to the 200th anniversary of "The Star-Spangled Banner", for "daringly transform[ing] the anthem, folding it into a teeming score that draws upon American folk and protest songs, and anthems from around the world, including Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban, to create a musical melting pot".[9]
In 2016, Montgomery was elected to the board of Chamber Music America.[10]
In 2019, Fanfare also discussed her multicultural New York influences, noting that listeners could expect to hear "English consort, samba, mbira, Zimbabwean dance, swing, techno... occasionally veering, somewhat ecstatically, towards a modern jazz jam session" in her work.[11]
She is part of the duo big dog little dog with bassist Eleonore Oppenheim. New Amsterdam released their first record in 2019.[12]
In 2021, she became the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Meade Composer-in-Residence.[13] Her 2021 composition, Hymn for Everyone, composed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, opens the Grammy-winning album, Contemporary American Composers (2023).[14] Her Strum for String Orchestra and L.E.S. Characters were performed in the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts in the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, in the summer series in 2021 and 2023 (the New York premiere), respectively. [15]
Discography
[edit]- Standard Stoppages (2025), Cedille [16]
- Montgomery: Rhapsody No. 1 (2024), Rubicon [17]
- Contemporary American Composers (2023), CSO Resound [18]
- Songs for Our Times (2023), Deutsche Grammophon [19]
- Bach / Gould Project (2015), Azica [20]
- Strum: Music for Strings (2015), Azica 71302[21]
Works
[edit]- Banner (2014), for solo string quartet and string orchestra
- Banner (2017), for solo string quartet and chamber orchestra
- Because (2021), "A Symphony of Serendipity" for narration and orchestra
- Break Away (2013), for string quartet
- Cadenzas (2014), for Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major by Joseph Haydn
- Caught by the Wind (2016), for orchestra
- Chemiluminescence (2025), for string orchestra
- Coincident Dances (2017), for orchestra
- Concerto Grosso (2024), for oboe, clarinet, harp, piano, violin solo, string quintet
- Danse Africaine (2016), for soprano-alto choir
- D Major Jam! (2020), for string ensemble
- Divided (2022), for solo cello and string orchestra
- Duo for Violin and Cello (2015), for violin and cello
- Five Freedom Songs (2021), for voice, percussion, and string orchestra
- Flight (2025), for solo cello
- Hymn for Everyone (2021), for orchestra (in the 2023 Grammy-winning album, Contemporary American Composers)
- I Have Something to Say (2020), for soprano-alto-tenor-bass chorus, children's choir, and orchestra
- I Want To Go Home (2015, rev. 2021), traditional Black spiritual for soprano and string quartet, quintet, or string orchestra
- L.E.S. Characters (2021), concerto for solo viola and orchestra
- Loisaida, My Love (2016), for mezzo-soprano and cello
- Lunar Songs (2019), for voice and string quartet
- Musings (2023), for two violins
- Overture (2022), for orchestra
- Passacaglia (2021), for flute quartet
- Passage (2022) for orchestra and dancers
- Passage (2019), for flute, clarinet, horn, string quartet
- Peace (2020), for clarinet and piano
- Peace (2020), for viola and piano
- Peace (2020), for violin and piano
- Play (1999), for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello
- Records from a Vanishing City (2016), for orchestra
- Rhapsody No. 1 (2014), for solo cello
- Rhapsody No. 1 (2014), for solo violin
- Rhapsody No. 2 (2020), for solo violin/for solo violin and chamber orchestra (arr. Michi Wiancko)
- Rhapsody No. 1 (2021), for solo viola
- Rhapsody No. 2 (2021), for solo viola
- Rounds (2022), for piano and string orchestra
- Shift, Change, Turn (2019), for chamber orchestra
- Snapshots (2023), for orchestra
- Source Code (2013), for string quartet or string orchestra
- Soul Force (2015), for orchestra
- Space (2023), for solo violin and orchestra
- Starburst (2012), for string orchestra
- Strum (2006; rev. 2012), for string quartet/quintet or string orchestra
- Study No. 1 (2023), for percussion quartet
- Tower City (2018), for solo carillon
- Transfigure to Grace (2023), for orchestra, inspired by themes from Passage (above)
- Voodoo Dolls (2008), for string quartet or quintet
References
[edit]- ^ Edgar, Hannah (December 20, 2023). "Chicagoan of the Year for Classical Music: CSO composer-in-residence Jessie Montgomery is new here, but her presence is already felt". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
- ^ Spurgeon, Jeff (August 25, 2023). "Sphinx Virtuosi". WQXR-FM. Carnegie Hall Live. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
- ^ Ross, Alex (September 4, 2006). "Learning the Score; A Critic at Large". The New Yorker. Vol. 82, no. 27. pp. 82–88.
- ^ Barone, Joshua (September 6, 2021). "The Changing American Canon Sounds Like Jessie Montgomery". The New York Times. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
- ^ Cooper, Michael (February 10, 2016). "Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Announces Next Season". ArtsBeat: New York Times Blog. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
- ^ Brookes, Stephen (October 11, 2012). "Thoughtful string program from Sphinx Virtuosi". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
- ^ Alders, Carine (May 16, 2024). "Dirigente Marin Alsop: 'Ik hoop dat we nu voorbij het kantelpunt zijn en niet weer terugvallen'". Preludium. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
- ^ Kaufman, Sarah (June 1, 2019). "In a Ballet Across America world premiere, even the piano dances". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (October 30, 2014). "O Say Can You Hear?". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
- ^ "Transitions On the CMA Board". Chamber Music. 33: 6–8. Summer 2016.
- ^ Clarke, Colin (July–August 2019). "Project W". Fanfare. 42: 445–446.
- ^ "Big Dog Little Dog (Jessie Montgomery & Eleonore Oppenheim)". Soundcast (Podcast). Season 2. No. 61.
- ^ Kueppers, Courtney (June 13, 2024). "Jessie Montgomery reflects on her tenure as CSO's composer in residence". WBEZ. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
- ^ "Grammys 2024: Winners List". The New York Times. February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
- ^ "Notable Events and Performers". Naumburg Orchestral Concerts. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- ^ "Standard Stoppages".
- ^ "Prism".
- ^ "Contemporary American Composers".
- ^ "Songs for Our Times".
- ^ "Bach/Gould Project".
- ^ Clarke, Colin (May–June 2016). "Review: J. Montgomery". Fanfare. 39 (5): 323–324.
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- 1981 births
- 20th-century African-American musicians
- 20th-century African-American women
- 21st-century African-American musicians
- 21st-century African-American women
- 21st-century American women musicians
- 21st-century American classical composers
- 21st-century American women composers
- African-American classical composers
- African-American women classical composers
- American women classical composers
- African-American women musicians
- Composers for carillon
- Composers for violin
- Composers from New York City
- Grammy Award winners
- Juilliard School alumni
- Living people
- New York University alumni
- American women classical violinists
- American classical violinists