Biography of composer Jesse Ayers

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Photo of Ayers outdoors
Jesse Ayers (b.1951, Knoxville, TN, USA) has had his music performed in Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, and over 85 U.S. cities, and has twice had his music selected by the International Society of Contemporary Music to represent the United States at the prestigious World Music Days festival (Slovenia 2003 and Warsaw 1992).

His more important works dwell in the intersection of the spiritual and natural worlds and explore the redemptive intervention of God in the affairs of the human race. But there is also a fun-loving side to Ayers' music with pieces such as the Waldstein Express, Piano Man, The Dancing King, and Caribbean Fantasy on Joy to the World, music filled with energy, rhythmic syncopations, and bright, cheerful harmonies.

Dr. Ayers has been awarded the Individual Creativity Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council as well as 16 awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), grants from Meet the Composer and the American Music Center, and Malone University's Distinguished Faculty Award. He has been a guest composer on university campuses in California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and Tennessee.

Ayers' work for solo tuba and accompaniment track, The Dancing King, has been performed on four continents and released on two CDs. His Jericho, a large-scale surround-sound composition for wind orchestra, choir, narrator, and unorthodox audience participation has been performed in ten cities around the United States. His other major surround-sound work, ...and they gathered on Mount Carmel, scored for either orchestra or wind symphony, has been performed by a number of collegiate symphonic bands across the United States with at least one performance in Europe.

Elliot Schwartz writing in Perspectives of New Music says Ayers' music is "appealing in its virtuosity, playfulness, and drive." Percussive Notes says, "Give Jesse Ayers an A+ for imagination." CIDA News says, "The Ayers' piece...is particularly stirring, wonderfully transporting and imaginative." The Instrumentalist comments "this spirited composition sparkles," and Mark Nelson writing in TUBA Journal describes Ayers' music as having "intense rhythmic drive and beautiful melodic writing, sophisticated in texture and pleasurable to listen to."
Photo of Ayers composing at the piano

Photo of Ayers teaching
Born in East Tennessee, Ayers began composing around age 14. While still in high school, he was invited by the legendary W. J. Julian (later to become President of the American Bandmasters, National Bandmasters, and College Band Directors Associations) to conduct his first composition for concert band with the University of Tennessee's "Pride of the Southland" Band. Ayers earned the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Composition from the University of Tennessee and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from the University of Kentucky. He has studied with David Van Vactor, John Anthony Lennon, Joseph Baber, Guy Bachman, and Allen Johnson; choral conducting with Donald Neuen; and percussion with F. Michael Combs. Ayers has had master classes with composers Sven-David Sandstrom, Karel Husa, Norman Dello Joio, and Vaclav Nelhybel.

Short Bio

Jesse Ayers (b.1951, Knoxville, TN, USA) has had his music performed in Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, and over 85 U.S. cities, and has twice had his music selected by the International Society of Contemporary Music to represent the United States at the prestigious World Music Days festival (Slovenia 2003 and Warsaw 1992).

His more important works explore the interaction between the spiritual and natural worlds and the redemptive intervention of God in the affairs of the human race.

Dr. Ayers has been awarded the Individual Creativity Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council as well as 16 awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), grants from Meet the Composer and the American Music Center, and Malone University's Distinguished Faculty Award. He has been a guest composer on university campuses in California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and Tennessee.

Ayers holds the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Tennessee and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kentucky. He has studied with David Van Vactor, John Anthony Lennon, Joseph Baber, Guy Bachman, and Allen Johnson; choral conducting with Donald Neuen; and percussion with F. Michael Combs. Ayers has had master classes with composers Sven-David Sandstrom, Karel Husa, Norman Dello Joio, and Vaclav Nelhybel.