“A graceful, gossamer-like opening leads into a series of radiant sounds – flashing, flickering, shimmering – gradually building up tension and then finally settling back into silence… sumptuous colors”
” Jessie Montgomery’s Study No 1 erupts cautiously, with tom tom rolls moving in slow gradations and instruments coming in and out of focus before individual ricochets and beating patterns are revealed.…
“sumptuous… This nine-minute piece wears its neo-Romantic heart on its sleeve from the first strains, reminiscent of Strauss’s ‘Metamorphosen,’ that proceed in tender, halting motion. Ardent melodies in the violas,…
“a skillful, communicative work… It was bright from the very start… all along, the music had something deeply appealing to say that was integral to the warm and sophisticated rhetoric.”
“Source Code for string quartet opened the program with the composer on violin joining violinist Monica Davis, violist Dana Kelley, and cellist Gabriel Cabezas. The quartet fostered the slippery movement…
“I’m thrilled that Jessie Montgomery is our 2025 Performance Today Classical Woman of the Year,” said Fred Child, host and senior editor of the program. “She is a multidimensional musical artist,…
“For those unfamiliar with American composer, Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981), her two short pieces were an exciting introduction to a composer of musical ingenuity whose work is also immediately ‘accessible’.…
“Jessie Montgomery’s ‘Strum,’ a ten-minute-long work that deserves its status as a 21st-century classic in its various incarnations for string quartet and larger string ensembles, dates from 2008 when the…
“The point is that the act of creating live music brings people together. ‘There’s the attraction of the music and the attraction of the people who are making the music,…
“Throughout the concert, Montgomery’s generous demeanor went a long way in inviting the audience to be comfortable in taking in the experience of contemporary music, without worrying about feeling intimidated…
“Pratt said of the concerto, ‘it’s kind of addictive and intoxicating. People get into a groove with the material as it comes back, and you‘ve got this really beautiful middle…
“At this point, Jessie Montgomery’s Strum (2006) is perhaps an early candidate for ‘classic,’ given the frequency of performances, and the Dover found immense pleasure in its gutsy textures and…
“Jessie Montgomery’s Loisaida, for soprano/cello duet and chorus is a vibrant love song for Loisaida, a neighborhood in New York’s Lower East Side. Montgomery set the “Loisaida” text, written by poet, educator…
“PUBLIQuartet will perform a program made up entirely of Montgomery’s works. Now serving as Hancher’s 2024—2025 composer-in-residence, Montgomery also will perform in the concert. They’ve woven some of her works…
“The concert commenced with Jessie Montgomery’s Voodoo Dolls, which vibrates with rhythmic energy and thematic folk influences. Inspired by her experiences in New Orleans, Voodoo Dolls was commissioned in 2008 and choreographed…
“Artistic director and pianist Kimi Kawashima has scored one of the season’s most anticipated offerings with a concert highlighting works by Jessie Montgomery, who won the Grammy for best contemporary…
“The Dover Quartet graced Guarneri Hall for the first Nova Linea Musica experience. They are Joel Link on violin, Bryan Lee on violin, Julianne Lee on viola, and Camden Shaw…
“Local audiences can get a feel for those ideas at the Boston Symphony Chamber Players’s first concert of the 2024-25 season, on Sept. 29. The program focuses on music by…
“Montgomery takes a multilayered approach to her interpretation of the anthem, stitching its melodies into a patchwork of a dozen other work songs, folk songs, freedom songs and anthems of…
“It cannot be denied that what we heard on Saturday night was an immediately and persistently engaging work for piano and strings that was rhythmically vital, melodically attractive and emotionally…
