Categories
Contemporary American

MONTGOMERY, Jessie

Jessie Montgomery
Photo by Jiyang Chen; courtesy of the composer's website

Born in New York, NY, 8 Dec 1981

  • Jessie Montgomery is a GRAMMY® Award-winning composer, violinist, and educator. Her body of work includes solo, chamber, vocal, orchestral pieces, and most recently, opera.
  • Montgomery’s music merges classical elements with vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, dissolving the listener’s preconceived expectations of 21st-century classical music.
  • Montgomery’s accolades include:
    • Musical America’s 2023 Composer of the Year
    • The Sphinx Medal of Excellence
    • The Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation
  • During her tenure as Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence, Montgomery launched the Young Composers Initiative, which supports high school aged youth in creating and presenting their works, including regular tutorials, reading sessions, and public performances.
  • Montgomery currently serves on the Composition and Music Technology faculty at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music.1

Learn More:
Composer’s website

Sources

  1. “About,” Jessie Montgomery, accessed March 17, 2025, https://www.jessiemontgomery.com/about/.

Pieces