Ravinia 2022, Issue 3

UNIFIED Jessie Montgomery makes the musical conversation more than notes BY KYLE MACMILLAN J ESS I E MONTGOMERY is enjoying the kind of moment in the spotlight that ev- ery rising composer dreams of. ¶ The 40-year-old Brooklyn native began a three- year stint last fall as composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. And in April, the ensemble presented the world premiere of Hymn for Everyone , the first of its three commissioned works by her. ¶ In September, the New York Times profiled the multifaceted creator in a piece titled “The Changing American Canon Sounds Like Jessie Montgomery,” which hailed her “often personal yet widely resonant music—forged in Manhattan, a mirror turned on the whole country.” ¶ The composer’s first piano con- certo, Rounds, was premiered in March by pianist Awadagin Pratt and the Hilton Head Symphony, which was part of a commis- sioning consortium that includes orchestras in Baltimore, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Kansas City, MO. ¶ “It’s been a big year,” she acknowledged. And that momentum shows no signs of slowing down. ¶ In addition to her work as a composer, Montgomery is also a violinist, activist, and educator. She drew on all four career facets, especially the last, from June 27 through July 1 when she served as composer-in-residence at Ravinia Steans Music Institute, one of the most sought- after summer training programs in the coun- try. She met informally with this year’s 38 young professional piano and string musi- cians and coached 10 of them in three of her chamber works, Source Code (2013), Break Away (2013), and Peace (2020–22), which the participating musicians performed in a free concert on July 2 that can been seen in its entirety on Ravinia’s YouTube channel. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 18 – JULY 31, 2022 18