About this Artist

Jessie Montgomery, Musical America's 2023 Composer of the Year and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence, is a GRAMMY-nominated, acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator whose works are performed around the world by leading musicians and ensembles. Described as “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (The Washington Post), her music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of twenty-first century American sound and experience.

Montgomery has been recognized with many prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Civitella
Ranieri Fellowship, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation. She is currently visiting faculty at the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, Bard College, and The New School, and has been affiliated with the Sphinx Organization since 1999. Montgomery holds degrees from the Juilliard School and New York University and is currently a doctoral candidate in music composition at Princeton University.