Can classical music really be inclusive? Composer Jessie Montgomery thinks so
Jessie Montgomery is having a moment. Several moments at once, actually.
In the past several years, the 40-year-old composer and violinist has rapidly become a poster child for the shifting classical music canon — an artist who aims to overcome an institutional dependence on old dead white men by leveling the field for women and composers of color. In the upcoming concert season, her works will be performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where she is currently the Mead Composer-in-Residence, appointed by Music Director Riccardo Muti.
On April 28, Muti leads the CSO in the world premiere of Montgomery's Hymn for Everyone, one of three new pieces she's writing for the orchestra during her tenure in Chicago.
Growing up with artistic parents in New York, Montgomery began writing little piano trios when she was around 11. She took lessons and continued composing throughout high school, and in her late teens began an association with the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit-based institution dedicated to supporting young Black and Latinx musicians. In 2008, while teaching at a summer music camp in Rhode Island, Montgomery realized life as a composer could be "a thing." A colleague walked in on her in the middle of composing and told her she had a "spark" in her eye for writing music.
Montgomery is in an exceptional position, not only as a composer whose works are suddenly skyrocketing in demand, but one who feels the responsibility to help lead as her field faces sharper questions of diversity and inclusion. While the brighter spotlight comes with pressure, she relishes the opportunity to help reframe American music and the institutions that present it.
From her apartment in New York City, Montgomery sat down for a video chat to talk about the canon and where classical music might be heading, as well as the role her own work plays in that journey.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tom Huizenga, NPR Music: The New York Times published a profile of
