- Written in 2021, Hymn for Everyone is a single-movement work for orchestra commissioned by Riccardo Muti, Zell Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and co-commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and the Music Academy of the West.
- During this time, Montgomery was serving as Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence.
- Program note from the composer:
- “Hymn for Everyone is based on a hymn that I wrote during the spring of 2021 that was a reflection on personal and collective challenges happening at the time. Up until that point, I had resisted composing ‘response pieces’ to the pandemic and social-political upheaval, and had been experiencing an intense writer’s block.
But one day, after a long hike, this hymn just came to me — a rare occurrence. The melody traverses through different orchestral ‘choirs’, and is accompanied by the rest of the ensemble. It is a kind of meditation for orchestra, exploring various washes of color and timbre through each repetition of the melody.”1
- “Hymn for Everyone is based on a hymn that I wrote during the spring of 2021 that was a reflection on personal and collective challenges happening at the time. Up until that point, I had resisted composing ‘response pieces’ to the pandemic and social-political upheaval, and had been experiencing an intense writer’s block.
Sources
- “Hymn for Everyone,” Jessie Montgomery, accessed March 17, 2025, https://www.jessiemontgomery.com/work/hymn-for-everyone/.
Cut IDs
25943