Jessie Montgomery : violin Curtis Stewart : violin Nick Revel : viola Amanda Gookin : cello
Jessie Montgomery is a violinist, composer and music educator. Living and working in New York City, she composes for film, theater and concert venues, and performs as a free-lance musician with a dedication to programming traditional classical, and new music.
As a chamber musician, Jessie is a founding member of PUBLIQuartet, a budding ensemble that is made up of composers and arrangers, who feature their own music as well as that of other New York based composers. One of the specialties of the quartet is their live improvisations, which are often structured by audience participation. She was also a core member of the Providence String Quartet from 2004 - 2009, quartet in residence of Community MusicWorks (CMW). The Providence String Quartet is dedicated to using music as a means of exploring possibilities for social change in underserved communities in the Providence area. Her experience as an ensemble player has lead to collaborations with such established groups as The Orion String Quartet, The Miro String Quartet, and The Knights. In fall 2010, Jessie was a featured chamber music artist in the Fredrikstad Café de Concert Festival in Norway under the direction of world-renowned concert pianist Aksel Kolstad. She can be seen performing regularly at Caffe Vivaldi in New York’s West Village on their classical chamber music series, of which she is also the program coordinator under the Café de Concert Series. Also known to stretch her classical bounds, she joins clarinetist and composer Don Byron in his klezmer band, performing the music of Mickey Katz at the Portland Jazz Festival in February 2011.
As a teacher, Jessie has served on faculty at CMW, The Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in New Hampshire, Music at Port Milford in Canada, and currently at her Alma Mater the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City. Under the tutelage of violin pedagogue Alice Kanack, she has trained in and implemented the use of the Creative Ability Development(CAD), a method that teaches young musicians to improvise alongside traditional classical training. Since 1999, Jessie has been affiliated with The Sphinx Organization, which supports the accomplishments of young African-American and Latino string players. Since herinvolvement with Sphinx, Jessie has been a two-time laureate in their annual competition, was Concertmaster of their 2009 national tour, and serves on the faculty of the Sphinx Performance Academy.
As a composer, Jessie was in Residence at the Deer Valley Music Festival under the direction of American composer Joan Tower. She was the two-time recipient of the Composer’s Apprentice Award given by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and she has served as resident composer for the Providence String Quartet, with performances throughout the Providence and Boston areas. Jessie has been commissioned by several youth arts organizations including CMW, Jump! Dance Company in Providence, and The Norwood School in Bethesda, MD. She is also the composer for the theater production of The Family Shakespeare presented by MTWorks at the June Havoc Theater in New York City.
Jessie holds a Bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School in violin performance and is currently a Master of Music Candidate for Composition in Film Scoring at New York University. Her primary violin teachers have been Sally Thomas and Ann Setzer; composition teachers and mentors include Hollywood film composer Ira Newborn, Joan Tower and Derek Bermel.