Jessie Montgomery

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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.

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Early life and education

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

Program and scene at a 2023 concert by the New Century Chamber Orchestra in Berkeley, California, where Montgomery's Banner was played Program and scene during set-up of New Century Chamber Orchestra performance at First Congregational Church in Berkeley 2023.jpg
Program and scene at a 2023 concert by the New Century Chamber Orchestra in Berkeley, California, where Montgomery's Banner was played

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]

The Cleveland Orchestra performing an "Out of this World" concert program that included Montgomery's Starburst, 2024 The Cleveland Orchestra performed an "Out of this World" concert program of galactic proportions featuring music by Mozart, Vivaldi, Debussy, Jessie Montgomery, and the first movement from Beethoven's Symphony (GRC-2024-C-03099).jpg
The Cleveland Orchestra performing an "Out of this World" concert program that included Montgomery's Starburst, 2024

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]

Conductor Xian Zhang and the New Jersey Symphony receiving applause after their 2025 performance of Montgomery's Hymn For Everyone Xian Zhang and the New Jersey Symphony afer performance of Jessie Montgomery's Hymn For Everyone.jpg
Conductor Xian Zhang and the New Jersey Symphony receiving applause after their 2025 performance of Montgomery's Hymn For Everyone

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

Works

References

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ Spurgeon, Jeff (August 25, 2023). "Sphinx Virtuosi". WQXR-FM . Carnegie Hall Live. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  3. ↑ Ross, Alex (September 4, 2006). "Learning the Score; A Critic at Large". The New Yorker . Vol. 82, no. 27. pp. 82–88.
  4. ↑ Barone, Joshua (September 6, 2021). "The Changing American Canon Sounds Like Jessie Montgomery". The New York Times . Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  5. ↑ Cooper, Michael (February 10, 2016). "Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Announces Next Season". ArtsBeat: New York Times Blog. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  6. ↑ Brookes, Stephen (October 11, 2012). "Thoughtful string program from Sphinx Virtuosi". The Washington Post . Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ Kaufman, Sarah (June 1, 2019). "In a Ballet Across America world premiere, even the piano dances". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  9. ↑ Tommasini, Anthony (October 30, 2014). "O Say Can You Hear?". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Transitions On the CMA Board". Chamber Music. 33: 6–8. Summer 2016.
  11. ↑ Clarke, Colin (July–August 2019). "Project W". Fanfare . 42: 445–446.
  12. ↑ "Big Dog Little Dog (Jessie Montgomery & Eleonore Oppenheim)". Soundcast (Podcast). Season 2. No. 61.
  13. ↑ Kueppers, Courtney (June 13, 2024). "Jessie Montgomery reflects on her tenure as CSO's composer in residence". WBEZ . Retrieved October 2, 2024.
  14. ↑ "Grammys 2024: Winners List". The New York Times. February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Notable Events and Performers". Naumburg Orchestral Concerts. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Standard Stoppages".
  17. ↑ "Prism".
  18. ↑ "Contemporary American Composers".
  19. ↑ "Songs for Our Times".
  20. ↑ "Bach/Gould Project".
  21. ↑ Clarke, Colin (May–June 2016). "Review: J. Montgomery". Fanfare. 39 (5): 323–324.
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