Award-winning composer, violinist, and educator Jessie Montgomery was warmly welcomed back to Blair School of Music September 18-22 for a residency that included classroom instruction, a masterclass session, and lecture during Friday’s Student Recital Class. Five student chamber groups were personally coached as they performed works composed by Montgomery; those same ensembles will perform during the first half of Montgomery’s upcoming concert in Ingram Hall, Thursday, November 9.
“It’s truly a remarkable experience for students to have the opportunity to hear directly from the composer as they work on a piece, preparing it for performance,” said Carolyn Huebl, professor of violin and the director of the Jessie Montgomery artist residency project.
The much-anticipated November 9 concert will also include Montgomery performing with bassist/songwriter Eleonore Oppenheim. The duo performs under the moniker of big dog little dog, a mind-melding collaboration described by one journalist as “post-minimalist groove Americana.”
Jessie Montgomery is the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and her works are performed frequently around the world by leading musicians and ensembles. Her music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of 21st-century American sound and experience. Her profoundly felt works have been described as “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (The Washington Post).
Sponsored by the Instrumental Guest Artist Residency Fund and presented with gratitude to Mark F. Dalton and the Glades Foundation.
