Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Jessie Montgomery is a GRAMMY® Award-winning composer, violinist, and educator whose 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) and are performed regularly by leading orchestras and ensembles around the world. In June 2024, she concluded a three-year appointment as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence.
Montgomery’s music contains a breadth of musical depictions of the human experience—from statements on social justice themes, to the Black diasporic experience and its foundation in American music, to wistful adorations and playful spontaneity—reflective of her deeply rooted experience as a classical violinist and child of the radical NYC arts community of the 1980s and ‘90s. From choral-symphonic works such as I Have Something To Say (2019), to her more intimate solo instrumental works, she presents a fresh perspective on the contemporary concert music experience. As stated by San Francisco’s NPR station KQED in response to her GRAMMY®-winning work Rounds (2021), “this is what classical music needs in 2024.”
At the heart of Montgomery’s work is a deep sense of community enrichment and a desire to create opportunities for young artists. During her tenure at the Chicago Symphony, she began the Young Composers Initiative, which supports high school-aged youth in creating and presenting their works, including regular tutorials, reading sessions, and public performances. Her curatorial work engages a diverse community of concertgoers and aims to highlight the works of underrepresented composers in an effort to broaden audience experiences in classical music spaces.
Her music has been heard on global stages across the US, Canada, Central America, Europe, and Asia, from the Hong Kong Cultural Center to the BBC Proms, Elbphilharmonie, Hollywood Bowl, and Carnegie Hall. Recent highlights include The Song of Nzingha (2024) as part of the multi-movement African Queens work composed by the Blacknificent 7; Procession (2024), a percussion concerto written for the principal percussionist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cynthia Yeh; Space (2023) as part of the Elements project, commissioned and performed by violinist Joshua Bell; Five Freedom Songs (2021), a song cycle conceived with and written for soprano Julia Bullock, for Sun Valley and Grand Teton Music Festivals, San Francisco, Kansas City, Boston and New Haven Symphony Orchestras, and the Virginia Arts Festival; and I was waiting for the echo of a better day (2021), a site-specific collaboration with Bard SummerScape and Pam Tanowitz Dance.
Montgomery has been recognized with many prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, and being named Musical America's 2023 Composer of the Year. Since 1999, she has been affiliated with the Sphinx Organization in a variety of roles including composer-in-residence for Sphinx Virtuosi, its professional touring ensemble. A founding member of PUBLIQuartet and a former member of the Catalyst Quartet, Montgomery holds degrees from The Juilliard School and New York University and is currently a doctoral candidate in music composition at Princeton University.
🎵 Discover Classical Music with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra 🎵
Welcome to the official YouTube channel of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Whether you’re a classical music fan looking for world premieres and symphonic masterpieces or are searching for an inspiring background soundtrack for relaxing, studying, working, or sleeping, the DSO has you covered. Located in Midtown Detroit, historic Orchestra Hall has been the eminent music venue of Southeast Michigan for over a century, hosting top artists, living composers, and diverse orchestral voices from around the world. Get tickets to join us in person or catch the riveting live stream for free at dso.org.
Stay in tune with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
- Visit our Website and explore events: dso.org
- Follow us on Instagram: @detroitsymphony
- Connect on Facebook: @detroitsymphony
- Join us on Tik Tok: @detroitsymphony
🔔 Subscribe and turn on notifications to be the first to experience our new releases.
#DSO #DetroitSymphonyOrchestra #IAMDSO #ClassicalMusic
Thank you for being a part of our musical journey. Like, comment, and share the magic!
Jessie Montgomery is a GRAMMY® Award-winning composer, violinist, and educator whose 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) and are performed regularly by leading orchestras and ensembles around the world. In June 2024, she concluded a three-year appointment as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence.
Montgomery’s music contains a breadth of musical depictions of the human experience—from statements on social justice themes, to the Black diasporic experience and its foundation in American music, to wistful adorations and playful spontaneity—reflective of her deeply rooted experience as a classical violinist and child of the radical NYC arts community of the 1980s and ‘90s. From choral-symphonic works such as I Have Something To Say (2019), to her more intimate solo instrumental works, she presents a fresh perspective on the contemporary concert music experience. As stated by San Francisco’s NPR station KQED in response to her GRAMMY®-winning work Rounds (2021), “this is what classical music needs in 2024.”
At the heart of Montgomery’s work is a deep sense of community enrichment and a desire to create opportunities for young artists. During her tenure at the Chicago Symphony, she began the Young Composers Initiative, which supports high school-aged youth in creating and presenting their works, including regular tutorials, reading sessions, and public performances. Her curatorial work engages a diverse community of concertgoers and aims to highlight the works of underrepresented composers in an effort to broaden audience experiences in classical music spaces.
Her music has been heard on global stages across the US, Canada, Central America, Europe, and Asia, from the Hong Kong Cultural Center to the BBC Proms, Elbphilharmonie, Hollywood Bowl, and Carnegie Hall. Recent highlights include The Song of Nzingha (2024) as part of the multi-movement African Queens work composed by the Blacknificent 7; Procession (2024), a percussion concerto written for the principal percussionist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cynthia Yeh; Space (2023) as part of the Elements project, commissioned and performed by violinist Joshua Bell; Five Freedom Songs (2021), a song cycle conceived with and written for soprano Julia Bullock, for Sun Valley and Grand Teton Music Festivals, San Francisco, Kansas City, Boston and New Haven Symphony Orchestras, and the Virginia Arts Festival; and I was waiting for the echo of a better day (2021), a site-specific collaboration with Bard SummerScape and Pam Tanowitz Dance.
Montgomery has been recognized with many prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, and being named Musical America's 2023 Composer of the Year. Since 1999, she has been affiliated with the Sphinx Organization in a variety of roles including composer-in-residence for Sphinx Virtuosi, its professional touring ensemble. A founding member of PUBLIQuartet and a former member of the Catalyst Quartet, Montgomery holds degrees from The Juilliard School and New York University and is currently a doctoral candidate in music composition at Princeton University.
🎵 Discover Classical Music with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra 🎵
Welcome to the official YouTube channel of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Whether you’re a classical music fan looking for world premieres and symphonic masterpieces or are searching for an inspiring background soundtrack for relaxing, studying, working, or sleeping, the DSO has you covered. Located in Midtown Detroit, historic Orchestra Hall has been the eminent music venue of Southeast Michigan for over a century, hosting top artists, living composers, and diverse orchestral voices from around the world. Get tickets to join us in person or catch the riveting live stream for free at dso.org.
Stay in tune with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
- Visit our Website and explore events: dso.org
- Follow us on Instagram: @detroitsymphony
- Connect on Facebook: @detroitsymphony
- Join us on Tik Tok: @detroitsymphony
🔔 Subscribe and turn on notifications to be the first to experience our new releases.
#DSO #DetroitSymphonyOrchestra #IAMDSO #ClassicalMusic
Thank you for being a part of our musical journey. Like, comment, and share the magic!
