NEWS & AWARDS
Ayers Radio Interview to Air Sunday, May 24, 2020, WHUP
|
Jesse Ayers will be the guest composer Sunday, May 24, 2020, on “Composer's Studio,” a weekly, hour-long radio program of WHUP-FM (Hillsborough, NC) that features conversations with living Classical composers. The show is hosted by composers Tarik Ghiradella and Amy Scurria. The show will air Sunday, May 24th, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. eastern time and is available via internet at this link to the podcast (free).
|
Jesse Ayers Receives Governor's Award for Outstanding Individual Artist
|
|
January 2020. The Ohio Arts Council has announced that composer Jesse Ayers has been named the recipient of the Governor's Award for an Individual Artist for 2020.
The Governor’s Awards "showcase and celebrate exceptional Ohio artists, arts organizations, arts leaders and patrons, and business support for the arts. Award recipients will be presented with the only arts award in the state that is conferred by the governor."
Donna S. Collins, Executive Director of the Ohio Arts Council, says, "The Governor's Awards are a special opportunity to celebrate Ohioans who exemplify what it means to make a difference through the power of the arts."
Each year, the public is invited to nominate individuals and organizations. Recipients are selected by the Governor's Awards Selection Committee, composed of six Ohio Arts Council (OAC) board members and three members selected by the Ohio Citizens for the Arts (OCA) Foundation, who recommend winners after reviewing nominations and letters of support submitted by individuals and organizations across Ohio.
"I am humbled to receive this award," says Ayers, "and grateful that our Governor, legislators, arts patrons, and good people of Ohio recognize the transformative power of the arts in our communities. In that sense, I receive this award on behalf of all Ohioans working to create and promote the arts."
Ayers continues, "I have been very fortunate and so blessed over my career to have had the opportunity to work with so many outstanding musicians, both professionals and students, all wonderful human beings, who have been diligent to perform my music at a high level. Composing is done in solitary confinement, locked away with pencil and staff paper. But the performance of the resulting music is marvelously collaborative, when I get to work side-by-side with 50, 100, even 200 highly skilled musicians coming together, in community, to focus on a single goal, that of creating a meaningful, perhaps life-altering, experience for their fellow human beings in the audience. On many occasions, I have experienced the deep gratification of seeing audience members respond to my music with profound, heart-felt emotion, thanks to the dedication, professionalism, and musicianship of the conductors and performers who have brought my music to life in the concert hall."
Ayers was the winner of the inaugural American Prize for Composition in 2011 for his work The Passion of John Brown for orchestra and narrator, commissioned by Christopher Wilkins and Akron Symphony; co-winner of the 2011 Dayton Ballet “New Music for New Dance" competition; and winner of the 2016 Opera Kansas Zepick Modern Opera Composition Competition for his two-woman, one-act opera, Beneath Suspicion, commissioned by Soprani Compagni (Lisa Dawson, Tammie Huntington, and Phoenix Park-Kim). Most recently, Ayers was named the 2019 Ohio Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer of the Year. He has received citations from the Ohio House and Senate for "tremendous attainment."
The Governor's Award will be presented at a luncheon in Columbus on March 25.
Below: Ayers' music performed by the Akron Symphony and Chorus (left), and the Malone University Symphonic Band and Chorale (right).
The Governor’s Awards "showcase and celebrate exceptional Ohio artists, arts organizations, arts leaders and patrons, and business support for the arts. Award recipients will be presented with the only arts award in the state that is conferred by the governor."
Donna S. Collins, Executive Director of the Ohio Arts Council, says, "The Governor's Awards are a special opportunity to celebrate Ohioans who exemplify what it means to make a difference through the power of the arts."
Each year, the public is invited to nominate individuals and organizations. Recipients are selected by the Governor's Awards Selection Committee, composed of six Ohio Arts Council (OAC) board members and three members selected by the Ohio Citizens for the Arts (OCA) Foundation, who recommend winners after reviewing nominations and letters of support submitted by individuals and organizations across Ohio.
"I am humbled to receive this award," says Ayers, "and grateful that our Governor, legislators, arts patrons, and good people of Ohio recognize the transformative power of the arts in our communities. In that sense, I receive this award on behalf of all Ohioans working to create and promote the arts."
Ayers continues, "I have been very fortunate and so blessed over my career to have had the opportunity to work with so many outstanding musicians, both professionals and students, all wonderful human beings, who have been diligent to perform my music at a high level. Composing is done in solitary confinement, locked away with pencil and staff paper. But the performance of the resulting music is marvelously collaborative, when I get to work side-by-side with 50, 100, even 200 highly skilled musicians coming together, in community, to focus on a single goal, that of creating a meaningful, perhaps life-altering, experience for their fellow human beings in the audience. On many occasions, I have experienced the deep gratification of seeing audience members respond to my music with profound, heart-felt emotion, thanks to the dedication, professionalism, and musicianship of the conductors and performers who have brought my music to life in the concert hall."
Ayers was the winner of the inaugural American Prize for Composition in 2011 for his work The Passion of John Brown for orchestra and narrator, commissioned by Christopher Wilkins and Akron Symphony; co-winner of the 2011 Dayton Ballet “New Music for New Dance" competition; and winner of the 2016 Opera Kansas Zepick Modern Opera Composition Competition for his two-woman, one-act opera, Beneath Suspicion, commissioned by Soprani Compagni (Lisa Dawson, Tammie Huntington, and Phoenix Park-Kim). Most recently, Ayers was named the 2019 Ohio Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer of the Year. He has received citations from the Ohio House and Senate for "tremendous attainment."
The Governor's Award will be presented at a luncheon in Columbus on March 25.
Below: Ayers' music performed by the Akron Symphony and Chorus (left), and the Malone University Symphonic Band and Chorale (right).
Jesse Ayers Selected OhioMTA Composer of the Year
Raquel Teare, pianist; Brent Schlonager, pianist & Treasurer of OhioMTA; Jesse Ayers;
​Patrick Reynolds, OhioMTA coordinator for MTNA Composer of the Year Program.
January 22, 2019. by Amber Balash
Accolades are nothing new to Malone University's well-respected and accomplished Professor of Music Jesse Ayers, whose compositions have been performed in nearly a dozen countries and more than 100 U.S. cities.
Yet being named the Ohio Music Teachers 2019 Commissioned Composer of the Year felt particularly special, as most recipients of the award are from much larger universities.
"I am humbled and excited to receive this honor from Ohio's oldest organization of professional music teachers," Ayers said. "I'm looking forward to the challenge of composing a new piece worthy of one of Ohio's most important music associations."
As the Commissioned Composer of the Year, Ayers will create a new work to be premiered in October at the 2019 OhioMTA state conference. Ohio MTA was founded in 1879 and is affiliated with the Music Teachers National Association, founded in 1876 and the nation's oldest organization of professional music teachers.
Ayers was the winner of the inaugural American Prize for Orchestral Composition in 2011, and was named an "Honored Artist" of the American Prize in 2014. Recent honors include First Prize in the 2016 Opera Kansas Zepick Modern Opera Composition competition, a 2014 Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Excellence Award, the 2013 Boston Metro Opera Concert Award, co-winner of the 2011 Dayton Ballet “New Music for New Dance" competition, and a 2010 MacDowell Fellowship. Recent commissions include those from the Akron Symphony, Soprani Compagni, the Indiana Bandmasters Association, the Ohio Private Colleges Instrumental Conductors Association, the Wisconsin Lutheran National Honors Band, and Milligan College.
Much of his music is scored for large "surround-sound" forces and explores the intersection of the spiritual and natural worlds and the redemptive intervention of God in the affairs of the human race.
Accolades are nothing new to Malone University's well-respected and accomplished Professor of Music Jesse Ayers, whose compositions have been performed in nearly a dozen countries and more than 100 U.S. cities.
Yet being named the Ohio Music Teachers 2019 Commissioned Composer of the Year felt particularly special, as most recipients of the award are from much larger universities.
"I am humbled and excited to receive this honor from Ohio's oldest organization of professional music teachers," Ayers said. "I'm looking forward to the challenge of composing a new piece worthy of one of Ohio's most important music associations."
As the Commissioned Composer of the Year, Ayers will create a new work to be premiered in October at the 2019 OhioMTA state conference. Ohio MTA was founded in 1879 and is affiliated with the Music Teachers National Association, founded in 1876 and the nation's oldest organization of professional music teachers.
Ayers was the winner of the inaugural American Prize for Orchestral Composition in 2011, and was named an "Honored Artist" of the American Prize in 2014. Recent honors include First Prize in the 2016 Opera Kansas Zepick Modern Opera Composition competition, a 2014 Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Excellence Award, the 2013 Boston Metro Opera Concert Award, co-winner of the 2011 Dayton Ballet “New Music for New Dance" competition, and a 2010 MacDowell Fellowship. Recent commissions include those from the Akron Symphony, Soprani Compagni, the Indiana Bandmasters Association, the Ohio Private Colleges Instrumental Conductors Association, the Wisconsin Lutheran National Honors Band, and Milligan College.
Much of his music is scored for large "surround-sound" forces and explores the intersection of the spiritual and natural worlds and the redemptive intervention of God in the affairs of the human race.
Ayers-Myricks Awarded Special Judges Citation for 2017-18 American Prize-Choral
|
May 2018. Jesse Ayers and Charles Myricks, Jr., have been awarded a Special Judges Citation for "Best Use of Musical Material from Another Source" for the American Prize in Composition in the Choral category for their work for orchestra and chorus, THERE'S A STIRRIN' IN THE WATER. This is the seventh time a work by Ayers has been among the finalists for the American Prize. In 2011, Ayers was the winner of the inaugural American Prize for Orchestral Composition for his work THE PASSION OF JOHN BROWN.
Stirrin' was premiered by the Akron Symphony & Chorus in November 2016, under the baton of Christopher Wilkins. The work explores the rich heritage of the American spiritual, from the suffering expressed in the songs of sorrow such as "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," to the songs of sustaining faith, such as "Steal Away" and "Deep River," to the songs of victory and praise, such as "Ain't Got Time to Die." |
Ayers' Beneath Suspicion named Finalist Honorable Mention 2017-18 American Prize
|
May 2018. Jesse Ayers has been named a Finalist Honorable Mention for the American Prize in Composition in the Opera-Theater Division for his work BENEATH SUSPICION for two sopranos, violin, and piano. This is the seventh time a work by Ayers has been among the finalists of the American Prize. In 2011, Ayers was the winner of the inaugural American Prize for Orchestral Composition for his work THE PASSION OF JOHN BROWN.
Beneath Suspicion is based on a true, little-known story of two daring, American women who played on prevailing gender and racial stereotypes to fight slavery by spying for the Union during the Civil War. The work was commissioned by Soprani Compagni. The American Prize in Composition recognizes and rewards the best composers in America of new works for orchestra, chorus, concert band, chamber ensemble or theater that have been publicly performed. |
|
Ayers-Myricks' There's A Stirrin' To Premiere November 18, 2016
Akron Symphony & Chorus, EJ Thomas Hall
|
Jesse Ayers and Charles Myricks, Jr. have co-composed a new work for orchestra and chorus which will be premiered November 18, 2016, by the Akron Symphony Orchestra, the Akron Symphony Chorus, and Akron's Youth Excellence in the Performing Arts Workshop under the baton of ASO music director Christopher Wilkins. The 18-minute piece, entitled There's A Stirrin' In The Water, was commissioned by the Akron Symphony for its "Legacy of the Spirituals" program and is a celebration of the American spiritual. The concert will be at Akron's EJ Thomas Hall at 8:00 p.m. Contact the symphony office for ticket information at 330-535-8131.
|
|
Ayers finalist for the 2016 American Prize for Composition
|
November 2016. Jesse Ayers has been named a finalist for the American Prize in Composition. His work THE FIRE OF THE LIVING GOD for wind symphony is a finalist in the band division. This is the fifth time a work by Ayers has been among the finalissts of the American Prize. In 2011, Ayers was the winner of the inaugural American Prize for Orchestral Composition for his work THE PASSION OF JOHN BROWN. The American Prize in Composition recognizes and rewards the best composers in America of new works for orchestra, chorus, concert band, chamber ensemble or theater that have been publicly performed.
|
|
Ayers wins Opera Kansas Zepick Modern Opera Contest
|
|
Opera Kansas has announced that Jesse Ayers' work BENEATH SUSPICION has won their Opera Kansas 30th Anniversary Zepick Composition Prize. The work received two performances at Wichita's gala Art Day of Giving event on April 29, 2016, and is scheduled for more performances next season. The 18-minute, two-woman work is based on a true, little-known story of two daring, 19th-century American women, one a wealthy, white middle-aged aristocrat, the other a freed slave barely in her twenties, who crossed social, racial, and economic barriers to work together to fight against slavery during the American Civil War.
The work was performed by Ashley Winters as Elizabeth van Lew, and Jasmine Jackson as Mary Bowser, with Sherri Pilgreen as collaborative pianist and Paul Brodene Smith as artistic and musical director. |
Ayers work performed at CBDNA North Central
|
PRIVATE EYE PROWL was performed at the 2016 Conference of College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), North Central Division, held at Iowa State University in February, by the Luther College Concert Band guest conducted by Dr. Jeffrey Doebler, Professor of Music at Valparaiso University. The piece was commissioned by the Indiana Bandmasters Association for the 2014 Indiana Junior All-State Band.
|
Luther College Concert Band
|
Dr. Jeffrey Scott Doebler
|
Jesse Ayers receives commendation from the Ohio Senate
Ayers commissioned by Soprani Compagni
|
Jesse Ayers has been commissioned by Soprani Compagni to compose a new work on the theme of "Portraits of Women." The work, Beneath Suspicion, a Scene from the Lives of Mary Bowser and Elizabeth Van Lew, will premiere November 14, 2015, at Indiana Wesleyan University, and is based on a the true story of two women, both passionate abolitionists, who spied for the Union in the Confederate capital of Richmond during the American Civil War.
The group commissioned the work because "soprano repertoire often depicts limited portraits of women, themed around love for her man, external beauty, and unfulfilled dreams. Soprani Compagni seeks to promote the contributions of women in our society... encouraging more women to embrace their calling and to let their (soprano) voices be heard." |
Tammi Huntington, soprano; Phoenix Park-Kim, piano; Lisa Dawson, soprano.
|
Jesse Ayers receives Distinguished Faculty Award
April 2014. Jesse Ayers has received the 2014 Distinguished Faculty Award for Scholarship/Creative Expression from Malone University. According to the university, this award is presented to "a faculty member whose research, inquiry, or creative activity has made a significant contribution in his/her academic discipline." Over the past 12 months, approximately 5,000 people across the United States have attended performances of Ayers' works. This is Ayers' second time to receive this award. Ayers has taught at Malone since 1997.
Jesse Ayers named "Honored Artist of the American Prize"
November 2014. Jesse Ayers is one of five American composers chosen as the first Honored Artists of The American Prize, the national nonprofit competitions in the performing arts. Honored Artists are individuals who have proven themselves to be musicians of “sustained excellence" over a number of seasons as contestants in the competitions. “The American Prize has auditioned many works by these five composers over several seasons,” says David Katz, Cheif Judge of the American Prize, “Each of the five exhibits a unique voice, a substantial catalog, multiple performances and serious intent. Each deserves every opportunity to be heard. We are delighted to bring added attention to their considerable gifts.”
Read press release from The American Prize
Read press release from The American Prize
Ayers' Jericho to be performed at national composers conference
October 2014. Jesse Ayers' JERICHO, a surround-sound concert story for orchestra, chorus, narrator, and unorthodox audience participation will be performed October 11 at the national conference of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers by the Biola University Symphony Orchestra and the Paul Delgado Singers on the campus of conference host Biola University in La Mirada, California (Los Angeles area).
Ayers' Rahab finalist for the 2014 American Prize for Composition
|
July 2014. Jesse Ayers' composition RAHAB has been named a finalist for the American Prize in Composition in the Opera-Musical-Film category. The 35-minute work is scored for mezzo-soprano and surround-sound wind symphony and tells the story of the Old Testament Battle of Jericho from inside the wall through the eyes of Rahab, the great-great grandmother of King David. Ayers was the winner of the first American Prize for Orchestral Composition in 2011 for his work THE PASSION OF JOHN BROWN. The American Prize in Composition recognizes and rewards the best composers in America of new works for orchestra, chorus, concert band, chamber ensemble or theater that have been publicly performed.
|
|
Ayers' Jericho finalist for the 2014 American Prize for Composition
|
July 2014. Jesse Ayers' composition JERICHO has been named a finalist for the American Prize in Composition in the band category. The work is scored for surround-sound wind symphony and narrator and tells the Old Testament account of the Battle of Jericho with narration from Joshua 6. Ayers was the winner of the first American Prize for Orchestral Composition in 2011 for his work THE PASSION OF JOHN BROWN. The American Prize in Composition recognizes and rewards the best composers in America of new works for orchestra, chorus, concert band, chamber ensemble or theater that have been publicly performed.
|
|
WindWorks of Washington to perform 2 Ayers' works
WindWorks of Washington, a new D.C. based professional wind symphony, has announced that it will perform two works by Jesse Ayers on its inaugural concert June 1. The chosen works are FLASHBAX and PRIVATE EYE PROWL. FLASHBAX was commissioned by the Ohio Private College Instrumental Conductors Association, and PRIVATE EYE PROWL was commissioned by the Indiana Bandmasters Association. Click here to watch videos
Ayers receives Artistic Excellence award from Ohio Arts Council
|
April 2014. Jesse Ayers has been awarded a 2014 Individual Artist Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. According to the OAC, these highly competitive awards "recognize creativity and imagination that exemplify the highest level of achievement and advancement of the art form for a particular discipline. Less than 10% of applicants receive funding." Ayers won the award for his surround-sound concert story for mezzo-soprano and symphonic winds RAHAB, and his work FLASHBAX, for concert band.
|
|
Ayers "Waldstein" selected for Otterbein's Humor In Music festival
Jesse Ayers' Waldstein Express for 2 pianos/8 hands has been selected for performance in Otterbein University's HUMOR IN MUSIC - HUMOROUS MUSIC FOR SERIOUS TIMES Festival. The work will be presented on Monday, March 31, 2014, at 8:00 p.m., in the Riley Auditorium of the Battelle Fine Arts Center. Admission is free.
Ayers commissioned by Indiana Bandmasters Association
|
Jesse Ayers has been commissioned by the Indiana Bandmasters Association to compose a new work for the 2014 Indiana Junior All-State Band. The work will premiere January 25, 2014, at the Embassy Theater in Fort Wayne.
|
Pre-concert, 2014 Indiana Junior All-State Band, Fort Wayne
|
Ayers double finalist for the 2013 American Prize for Composition
|
May 2013. Two works by composer Jesse Ayers were named finalists for the 2013 American Prize in Composition—Band Division. Seven works in all nationally made the finals list in this division, and two were composed by Ayers: JERICHO and AND THEY GATHERED ON MOUNT CARMEL. Ayers was the winner of the first American Prize for Orchestral Composition in 2011 for his work THE PASSION OF JOHN BROWN. This is the first year the American Prize has offered an award for concert band composition.
|
|
Ayers' Rahab wins Boston Metro Opera award
February 2013. The Boston Metro Opera has announced that RAHAB by composer/librettist Jesse Ayers has won the BMO's Concert Award. Rahab is a one-woman, surround-sound concert story for mezzo soprano and symphonic winds or orchestra. It tells the Old Testament story of Rahab, a woman of ancient Jericho, who along with her relatives, were the only survivors of the famed battle of Jericho.
Ayers commissioned by national Lutheran honors band
|
March 2013. Composer Jesse Ayers was commissioned to compose a new work for wind symphony, organ, and narrator by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod National High School Honors Band. The band was comprised of the best band students nationally from the WELS high schools and premiered Ayers' new work, AKEDAH, at their annual weekend festival held March 17, 2013, at Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota.
|
|
Yakima (WA) Symphony performs Ayers' Jericho
|
May 2012. The Yakima Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Maestro Lawrence Golan performed Jesse Ayers' JERICHO May 19, 2012, at the Capital Theater in Yakima, WA. The work, which tells the story of the ancient Battle of Jericho, is a surround-sound story piece that employs narration and unorthodox audience participation.
|
Yakima Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
|
Windiana Concert Band presents Ayers "Biblical Epics Trilogy"
|
November 2011. The Windiana Concert Band, under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Scott Doebler, presented a program on November 17, 2011, of the three large Biblical works by composer Jesse Ayers. The works performed were AND THEY GATHERED ON MOUNT CARMEL, JERICHO, and RAHAB. Mezzo-soprano Beth Ray Westlund will sang the role of Rahab. The concert was held at the Memorial Opera House, Valparaiso, Indiana.
|
Windiana Concert Band
|
Ayers wins 2011 American Prize for Orchestral Composition
|
May 2011. The American Prize has announced that Jesse Ayers' THE PASSION OF JOHN BROWN has been named winner of the 2011 American Prize for Orchestral Composition. The American Prize is a series of national non-profit competitions in the performing arts which provides reward and recognition to the finest composers, conductors and ensembles in America. Ayers' work was commissioned by the Akron Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the 150th anniversary of abolitionist John Brown's raid on the Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Brown was a resident of Akron. The work was premiered October 17, 2009 — 150 years to the day of Brown's raid — by the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Wilkins conducting, with Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductee Leon Bibb, narrating.
|
|
Lamont Symphony to perform Ayers Jericho
|
May 2011. The Lamont Symphony Orchestra and Lamont Chorale, Lawrence Golan, conducting, performed Jesse Ayers' JERICHO May 26, 2011, in Denver at the Gates Concert Hall, Newman Center for the Performing Arts.
|
|
Ayers work co-wins Dayton Ballet's "New Music for New Dance"
|
March 2011. Jesse Ayers has been named one of the three co-winners nationwide of the Dayton Ballet's "New Music for New Dance" competition. The program matches three composers with three choreographers culminating in a series of world premiere ballet performances. His winning work, Mountain River Escapades, was selected by jury from a national call for scores. Escapades is an umbrella title for two of Ayers' works: DANCE OF THE MOUNTAIN RAINDROPS and TUBING THE TOWNSEND "Y." Ayers work will be choreographed by Susanne Payne and presented in five performances March 24-27.
|
|
Brantford Symphony (Ontario) performs Fanfare for Christmas
|
December 2010. The Brantford Symphony Orchestra (Ontario) under the baton of Philip Sarabura will perform Jesse Ayers' FANFARE FOR CHRISTMAS on their holiday concert.
"...the brilliant opening fanfare on Joy to the World by the fresh voice of American composer Jesse Ayers, sparkling with brass and percussion...." —The Brantford Expositor. |
Philip Sarabura
|
Composer Jesse Ayers awarded MacDowell fellowship
|
September 2010. The MacDowell Colony has announced that composer Jesse Ayers has been awarded a MacDowell Fellowship for the Fall of 2010. The fellowship includes a residency at the 450 acre wooded site in New Hampshire.
Past fellows include Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Thornton Wilder, James Baldwin, Willa Cather, and Dubose and Dorothy Heyward. According to the the MacDowell Colony web site, the colony's mission is to "nurture the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which to produce enduring works of the imagination." |
|
Wisconsin Lutheran Concert Band performs Jericho in 4 states
|
May 2010. The Concert Band of the Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, under the direction of Dr. Terry Treuden, will be performing Jesse Ayers' JERICHO May 7 in Milwaukee,WI; May 17 in St. Paul, MN; May 19 at Black Hills State University in North Dakota; and May 21 in Denver, CO. The 16-minute theater-piece employs narrator, surround-sound placement of the musicians, and unorthodox audience participation.
|
|
Akron Symphony premieres Ayers' The Passion of John Brown
|
Jesse Ayers' THE PASSION OF JOHN BROWN for orchestra and narrator, premiered October 17, 2009, performed by the Akron Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Christopher Wilkins with Broadcasters' Hall of Fame inductee Leon Bibb narrating.
The 19-minute work was commissioned by the orchestra in observance of the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry which helped spark the American Civil War. Ayers' work tells John Brown's story, the good and the bad, through Brown's own words, as well as the words of two of Brown's surviving offspring, Brown's friend abolitionist Fredrick Douglass, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, who witnessed Brown's hanging, and the widow of a man Brown ordered killed. It also quotes John Brown's favorite hymn, Blow Ye the Trumpet, Blow, and uses musical material from the hymn as symbolic bugle calls echoed by surround-sound trumpets. Brown lived in the Akron area for many years and is among its most famous citizens. The concert date was the exact anniversary of the Harper's Ferry raid. Maestro Wilkins conceived the idea of commissioning a narrated work about Brown and suggested the marvelous, double-entendre title. |
Leon Bibb, Jesse Ayers, Christopher Wilkins
The Akron Symphony premieres Ayers' "The Passion of John Brown" with Leon Bibb narrating
|
Concordia Wind Orchestra performs Ayers' Mount Carmel on tour
|
October 16-31, 2009. The Concordia Wind Orchestra from Irvine, California, under the direction of Jeff Held, will be performing Jesse Ayers' AND THEY GATHERED ON MOUNT CARMEL in Houston and Austin, Texas, and in Irvine, California.
The 20-minute, three-movement work was the first of Ayers' "surround-sound" works, with the brass split into two choirs on each side of the audience, two alto saxophones in opposite corners of the rear or balcony, and a few more players behind the audience with unusual instruments. |
|
Ayers' Waldstein Express performed at European competition
|
May 14, 2009. Jesse Ayers' WALDSTEIN EXPRESS for 2-pianos 8-hands was performed on the opening concert of the Slobomir International Music Competition in Bijeljina, Repubic of Srpska. The work was performed by students of Professor Dubravka Jovicic, Ph.D., Dean of the Faculty, Belgrade, Serbia.
The work is based on the opening two measures of Beethoven's Sonata No. 21 in C major "Waldstein" and also briefly quotes Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Bach's Prelude in C major from the WTC, with cameo appearances by Gershwin and Jerry Lee Lewis. |
|
Ayers' Waldstein Express performed at national composers conference
|
April 2009. Jesse Ayers' WALDSTEIN EXPRESS for 2-pianos 8-hands was performed at the national conference of the Society of Composers held in Santa Fe April 2009. This was the second time Ayers music was performed at an SCI National. In 2005, his work for wind symphony THE FIRE OF THE LIVING GOD was performed at the SCI National Conference in Greensboro, NC
|
|
Ayers' Dance of the Mountain Raindrops televised on European TV
November 2-3, 2008. For the second time this year, Jesse Ayers' DANCE OF THE MOUNTAIN RAINDROPS for piano and string orchestra has aired on Serbia's national television-radio network, RTS. On Sunday night, a portion of the work was televised as part of an RTS retrospective celebrating the highlights of its past 50 years of broadcasting. The entire work was broadcast again on Monday night on RTS radio. RTS broadcast the same work in full on television and radio in March.
The performance featured concert pianist Dubravka Jovicic of Belgrade, Serbia, and the RTS Symphony Orchestra. Jovicic and the orchestra recorded Ayers' work in 1992 when it was selected for a the inaugural broadcast of a then-new RTS-TV series World Premiere, a weekly program dedicated to premiering new concert works by living composers.
The performance featured concert pianist Dubravka Jovicic of Belgrade, Serbia, and the RTS Symphony Orchestra. Jovicic and the orchestra recorded Ayers' work in 1992 when it was selected for a the inaugural broadcast of a then-new RTS-TV series World Premiere, a weekly program dedicated to premiering new concert works by living composers.
Ayers' Dancing King on tour
|
March 2008. Tubist Kenyon Wilson will be performing Jesse Ayers' work for solo tuba and pre-recorded accompaniment track, THE DANCING KING, in solo recitals in Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carloina. Wilson also toured with Ayers' Dancing King in October 2007 in Nebraska, South Dakata, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and in March 2007 in New Mexico, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, and Colorado.
Wilson's first contact with Ayers' music was in 1991 when Wilson was a student of tuba legend R. Winston Morris and a member of the famed Tennessee Tech Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble when it premiered Ayers' THE MAGICAL MYSTICAL RAIN FOREST, the other of Ayers' two works utilizing pre-recorded accompaniment track. |
|
Ayers receives Ohio Arts Council Excellence Award
March 2007. Composer Jesse Ayers has been awarded a 2007 Individual Creativity Excellence Award by the Ohio Arts Council. According to the Council, the cash awards are "peer recognition of [Ohio's] creative artists for the exceptional merit of a body of work that advances or exemplifies the discipline and the larger artistic community."
Artists' work was evaluated through an anonymous peer review process by an panel of out-of-state experts. The Council says that the highly competitive awards are only made to 8%-10% of applicants.
Of the forty or so applications received in the field of music composition, only three awards were made. According to observers at the adjudication deliberations, which are open to the public, Ayers' music was the only music composition application to receive the maximum possible score from all judges on the music panel.
Artists' work was evaluated through an anonymous peer review process by an panel of out-of-state experts. The Council says that the highly competitive awards are only made to 8%-10% of applicants.
Of the forty or so applications received in the field of music composition, only three awards were made. According to observers at the adjudication deliberations, which are open to the public, Ayers' music was the only music composition application to receive the maximum possible score from all judges on the music panel.
Concordia Wind Symphony performs Ayers' Jericho on tour
|
March 2006. Jesse Ayers' newest composition, JERICHO, will be performed on tour by the Wind Symphony of Concordia University Chicago under the baton of Dr. Richard Fischer. The 60-member ensemble will perform in St. Louis, Little Rock, Memphis, Peachtree City, GA, Pensacola, Mobile, Houstin, and Austin before their final home concert in Chicago.
Jericho is a dramatic, surround-sound composition for orchestra or band, plus narrator, that features unorthodox audience participation. This is the second time that Fischer and the Concordia Wind Symphony have taken Ayers' music on tour. In March of 2000, they toured California with Ayers' AND THEY GATHERED ON MOUNT CARMEL, a major 25-minute, three-movement work for wind orchestra based on the great Old Testament contest between Elijah and the false prophets of Baal. |
|
Ayers' Fire of the Living God performed at national conference
|
October 2005. Jesse Ayers' music has been selected to be performed at the national conference of the Society of Composers. His composition, THE FIRE OF THE LIVING GOD, will be performed in Greensboro, NC, by the University of North Carolina-Greensboro Wind Ensemble under the baton of of Dr. John Locke, President of the American Bandmasters Association. The conference is an annual three-day festival and will be attended by composers from across America.
|
|
Composer Jesse Ayers selected for 2004 Essentially Choral Reading Session
|
January 2004. Jesse Ayers is one of five American composers selected to participate in the 2004 Essentially Choral Reading Sessions in Minneapolis, co-sponsored by the Minnesota Composers Forum and the Minneapolis-based VocalEssence ensemble conducted by Philip Brunelle. Ayers' work, THE SEVENTH SEAL, is scored for SATB chorus and chamber ensemble consisting of special-effects piano, flute, clarinet, trumpet, and percussion, and is based on the apocalyptic text found in Revelation 8: 1-6.
Selected composers will have their works read by the 26-voice VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and professional orchestral musicians. In conjunction with the reading session, composers will attend rehearsals with the musicians and mentoring sessions with conductor Brunelle and internationally recognized composer Sven-David Sandström. |
Philip Brunelle and VocalEssence
|
Ayers' Fire selected to represent USA at 2003 World Music Days
|
September 2003. Jesse Ayers is one of six American composers whose music has been selected by the International Society for Contemporary Music to represent the United States at the prestigious World Music Days '03 festival. His work, THE FIRE OF THE LIVING GOD, was selected by an international jury of distinguished composers.
This is the second time Ayers has been honored by the ISCM. In 1992, his THE DANCING KING for solo tuba and pre-recorded accompaniment was performed in Warsaw, Poland, at World Music Days '92. |
|