![]() ![]() Her growing body of work includes solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral works. She has received additional grants and awards from the ASCAP Foundation, Chamber Music America, American Composers Orchestra, the Joyce Foundation, and the Sorel Organization. She was a two-time laureate of the annual Sphinx Competition and was awarded a generous MPower grant to assist in the development of her debut album, Strum: Music for Strings (Azica Records). She currently serves as composer-in-residence for the Sphinx Virtuosi, the Organization’s flagship professional touring ensemble. Since 1999, Jessie has been affiliated with The Sphinx Organization, which supports young African-American and Latinx string players. It is from this unique experience that Jessie has created a life that merges composing, performance, education, and advocacy. Her parents – her father a musician, her mother a theater artist and storyteller – were engaged in the activities of the neighborhood and regularly brought Jessie to rallies, performances, and parties where neighbors, activists, and artists gathered to celebrate and support the movements of the time. Artists gravitated to the hotbed of artistic experimentation and community development. ![]() ![]() Jessie was born and raised in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1980s during a time when the neighborhood was at a major turning point in its history. Her profoundly felt works have been described as “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (The Washington Post). Her music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, language, and social justice, placing her squarely as one of the most relevant interpreters of 21st-century American sound and experience. She is the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, and her works are performed frequently around the world by leading musicians and ensembles. Jessie Montgomery is an acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator. ![]()
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