Jessie Montgomery
Jessie Montgomery 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
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.Starting in 1999, Montgomery became involved with the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit-based nonprofit that supports young African American and Latino Americans|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.
Career
Montgomery devoted her early career to performance and to teaching at organizations such as Community MusicWorks in Providence, Rhode Island. She co-founded the string ensemble PUBLIQuartet in 2010, and performed with the Catalyst Quartet until January 2021.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, the Albany Symphony, the Sphinx Organization, 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, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony, and choreographed by the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Image: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.jpg|thumb|left|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 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".
In 2016, Montgomery was elected to the board of Chamber Music America.
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.
She is part of the duo big dog little dog with bassist Eleonore Oppenheim. New Amsterdam released their first record in 2019.
Image:Xian Zhang and the New Jersey Symphony afer performance of Jessie Montgomery's Hymn For Everyone.jpg|thumb|right|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. Her 2021 composition, Hymn for Everyone, composed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, opens the Grammy Awards|Grammy]-winning album, Contemporary American Composers.
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, respectively.
Discography
Standard Stoppages, Cedille Montgomery: Rhapsody No. 1, Rubicon Contemporary American Composers, CSO Resound Songs for Our Times, Deutsche Grammophon Bach / Gould Project, Azica Strum: Music for Strings, Azica 71302Works
Banner, for solo string quartet and string orchestraBanner, for solo string quartet and chamber orchestraBecause, "A Symphony of Serendipity" for narration and orchestraBreak Away, for string quartet- Cadenzas, for Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major by Joseph HaydnCaught by the Wind, for orchestraChemiluminescence, for string orchestraCoincident Dances, for orchestraConcerto Grosso, for oboe, clarinet, harp, piano, violin solo, string quintetDanse Africaine, for soprano-alto choirD Major Jam!, for string ensembleDivided, for solo cello and string orchestraDuo for Violin and Cello, for violin and celloFive Freedom Songs, for voice, percussion, and string orchestraFlight, for solo celloHymn for Everyone, for orchestra I Have Something to Say, for soprano-alto-tenor-bass chorus, children's choir, and orchestraI Want To Go Home, traditional Black spiritual for soprano and string quartet, quintet, or string orchestraL.E.S. Characters, concerto for solo viola and orchestraLoisaida, My Love, for mezzo-soprano and celloLunar Songs, for voice and string quartetMusings, for two violinsOverture, for orchestraPassacaglia, for flute quartetPassage for orchestra and dancersPassage, for flute, clarinet, horn, string quartetPeace, for clarinet and pianoPeace, for viola and pianoPeace, for violin and pianoPlay, for flute, clarinet, violin, and celloRecords from a Vanishing City, for orchestraRhapsody No. 1, for solo celloRhapsody No. 1, for solo violinRhapsody No. 2, for solo violin/for solo violin and chamber orchestra Rhapsody No. 1, for solo violaRhapsody No. 2, for solo violaRounds, for piano and string orchestraShift, Change, Turn, for chamber orchestraSnapshots, for orchestraSource Code, for string quartet or string orchestraSoul Force, for orchestraSpace, for solo violin and orchestra Starburst, for string orchestraStrum, for string quartet/quintet or string orchestraStudy No. 1, for percussion quartetTower City, for solo carillonTransfigure to Grace, for orchestra, inspired by themes from Passage Voodoo Dolls, for string quartet or quintet