Commissioned by Riccardo Muti, Zell Music Director, Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Made possible through the generous support of Helen Zell; Co-Commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and the Music Academy of the West
“Jessie Montgomery’s moving Hymn for Everyone from 2021 surely offended no one. Its pleasingly lush textures find the composer responding to a world reeling from both social upheaval and the Covid pandemic.…
“Since her appointment in the spring of 2021, Montgomery’s music has popped up like wildflowers on classical and new music programs locally. In the 2023-24 season now ending, here are…
“Speaking to the Tribune in December, Chicago Symphony composer-in-residence Jessie Montgomery teasingly called 2024, the last year of her Chicago Symphony residency, her “year of percussion.” And oh, how it…
“During her three seasons as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence, Jessie Montgomery has left a profound impression on the orchestra and the city’s cultural scene. Her many accomplishments include…
“The first music on this new disc is by Jessie Montgomery, the Mead Composer-in-residence at the CSO. She has earned a reputation as a composer of melodic, accessible music infused…
“Look to the opening work on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s recent album “Contemporary American Composers,” Jessie Montgomery’s ‘Hymn for Everyone.’ That track is plenty inviting in its regular stereo mix;…
“Rising-star composer Montgomery, who was involved in last year’s 75th anniversary Music Academy festival and who is currently the Mead composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony, managed the feat of supplying…
”Montgomery’s neatly constructed single-movement work opens with a hopeful rising and falling five-note melody, which hovers around the fifth of the scale before resting on a turn-like figure. The work…
“With the brand-new Contemporary American Composers (CSO Resound), his last album with the CSO in his official capacity, [Riccardo Muti] gives his critics a decisive shove. This remarkable album opens…
