Works by Jessie Montgomery For Your GRAMMY® Consideration

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🏆 BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION
HYMN FOR EVERYONE

For your consideration, Hymn for Everyone by Jessie Montgomery for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

“Hymn for Everyone is based on a hymn that I wrote during the spring of 2021 that was a reflection on personal and collective challenges happening at the time. Up until that point, I had resisted composing “response pieces” to the pandemic and social-political upheaval, and had been experiencing an intense writer’s block.

But one day, after a long hike, this hymn just came to me — a rare occurrence. The melody traverses through different orchestral “choirs”, and is accompanied by the rest of the ensemble. It is a kind of meditation for orchestra, exploring various washes of color and timbre through each repetition of the melody.”

— Jessie Montgomery

Preview of Hymn for Everyone by Jessie Montgomery
Chicago Symphony & Riccardo Muti

“Hymn for Everyone is undoubtedly greater than the sum of its parts. Its controlled release of emotion, meted out tactfully by Muti … gestures to something far deeper than what glimmers on its surface.”
– Chicago Tribune

“Muti infuses the debut performance of Hymn for Everyone with smoldering intensity and nuanced drama.”
– Chicago Sun-Times

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🏆 BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION
DIVIDED

For your consideration, Divided by Jessie Montgomery for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

Divided is a composition that reflects upon the complexities of the times, echoing the societal concerns that resonate with many today. With themes touching on racial injustice, discrimination in its various forms, power dynamics, poverty, and the pressing challenge of climate change, this piece provides a contemplative musical journey. In an era where global events are constantly at the forefront, the composition prompts the listener to consider the pursuit of beauty amidst the turmoil.

Divided by Jessie Montgomery
Tommy Mesa, Cello

“Spirited…lively…richly aching, propulsive yet dreamlike…”
– The New York Times
“urgent and heartfelt playing…revealing unexpected colors and dense textures”
– BBC Music Magazine
“It’s a knockout…Kudos to Deutsche Grammophon for seizing the opportunity to widen the Sphinx Virtuosi’s audience and the Sphinx Organization’s invaluable continuing achievements.”
– Gramophone Magazine

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🏆 BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION
ROUNDS

For your consideration, Rounds by Jessie Montgomery for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

Rounds is a composition inspired by the imagery and themes from T.S. Eliot’s epic poem Four Quartets, fractals (infinite patterns found in nature that are self-similar across different scales), and the interdependency of all beings.

“Like Eliot in Four Quartets, beginning to understand this interconnectedness requires that we slow down, listen, and observe both the effect and the opposite effect caused by every single action and moment. I’ve found this is an exercise that lends itself very naturally towards musical gestural possibilities that I explore in the work – action and reaction, dark and light, stagnant and swift.”

— Jessie Montgomery

Rounds by Jessie Montgomery
Awadagin Pratt, piano
A Far Cry

“supporting new harmonies within old structures…exploring the tension between motion and stillness found in T.S. Eliot’s verses”
– NPR
“active, melodically interesting, and inspired by the mesmerizing symmetry of fractals”
– I Care if you Listen
“providing listeners with significant immersion…lush”
– The New York Times

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