Jeremy Beck
Encyclopedia
Jeremy Beck is a dramatic and lyrical American
composer
of works for varying orchestra
l, chamber
and vocal forces. The critic Mark Sebastian Jordan has said that "Beck was committed to tonality and a recognizable musical vernacular long before that became the hip bandwagon it is today. Indeed, [he is] ... an original voice celebrating music."
His most recent opera, Review, with a libretto by Patricia Marx
, was one of three finalists in the 2010 National Opera Association’s New Chamber Opera Competition. It is scheduled for production by Peabody Opera in October, 2011, in Baltimore and in Richmond, Virginia, at the College Music Society's annual convention. Review was previously included in the 2009 OPERA America and Houston Grand Opera New Works Sampler. Following that successful showcase, Review was then produced by the Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston and later was given its New York premiere by the Center for Contemporary Opera.
Beck has released four CDs of his music on the innova label. IonSound Project (2011) features the ensemble-in-residence at the University of Pittsburgh. His music on this recording has been described as "uplifting, buoyant and ... emotional and sensitive to both the performer and the listener."
Beck's third innova CD, Never Final, Never Gone (2008), features a variety of chamber and vocal music. His second CD, pause and feel and hark, released in May 2006, includes Black Water, a monodrama based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates
. Black Water will receive its Australian premiere at the 2012 Adelaide Fringe Festival. In 2004, Wave -- a Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra CD devoted to Beck's music — was released.
Beck's opera
The Biddle Boys and Mrs. Soffel was named by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as one of the Top Ten Cultural Events in Pittsburgh for the year 2001.
Beck has earned awards, grants and honors from the American Composers Orchestra, California Arts Council, the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Composers Forum, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Millay Colony for the Arts
, Meet the Composer, Wellesley Composers Conference, Oregon Bach Festival, Iowa Arts Council and the American Music Center
.
He holds degrees from the Yale School of Music
, Duke University
and the Mannes College of Music
, where his principal teachers included Jacob Druckman
, Martin Bresnick
, Stephen Jaffe
and David Loeb..
Beck currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky
, where he is a practicing attorney.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of works for varying orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l, chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
and vocal forces. The critic Mark Sebastian Jordan has said that "Beck was committed to tonality and a recognizable musical vernacular long before that became the hip bandwagon it is today. Indeed, [he is] ... an original voice celebrating music."
His most recent opera, Review, with a libretto by Patricia Marx
Patricia Marx
Patricia Marx is an American humorist and writer. She currently works as a staff writer for The New Yorker, and teaches at Princeton University....
, was one of three finalists in the 2010 National Opera Association’s New Chamber Opera Competition. It is scheduled for production by Peabody Opera in October, 2011, in Baltimore and in Richmond, Virginia, at the College Music Society's annual convention. Review was previously included in the 2009 OPERA America and Houston Grand Opera New Works Sampler. Following that successful showcase, Review was then produced by the Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston and later was given its New York premiere by the Center for Contemporary Opera.
Beck has released four CDs of his music on the innova label. IonSound Project (2011) features the ensemble-in-residence at the University of Pittsburgh. His music on this recording has been described as "uplifting, buoyant and ... emotional and sensitive to both the performer and the listener."
Beck's third innova CD, Never Final, Never Gone (2008), features a variety of chamber and vocal music. His second CD, pause and feel and hark, released in May 2006, includes Black Water, a monodrama based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
. Black Water will receive its Australian premiere at the 2012 Adelaide Fringe Festival. In 2004, Wave -- a Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra CD devoted to Beck's music — was released.
Beck's opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
The Biddle Boys and Mrs. Soffel was named by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as one of the Top Ten Cultural Events in Pittsburgh for the year 2001.
Beck has earned awards, grants and honors from the American Composers Orchestra, California Arts Council, the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Composers Forum, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Millay Colony for the Arts
Millay Colony for the Arts
The Millay Colony for the Arts is an artist residency program in Austerlitz, New York. The colony offers one month residencies to visual artists, writers, poets and composers. The Millay Colony for the Arts was founded in 1973 by Norma Millay Ellis, sister of the poet Edna St...
, Meet the Composer, Wellesley Composers Conference, Oregon Bach Festival, Iowa Arts Council and the American Music Center
American Music Center
The American Music Center is a non-profit organization which aims to promote the creating, performing, and enjoying new American music. The organization was founded in 1939 by composers Marion Bauer, Aaron Copland, Howard Hanson, Harrison Kerr, Otto Luening, and Quincy Porter.The organization has a...
.
He holds degrees from the Yale School of Music
Yale School of Music
The Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....
, Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
and the Mannes College of Music
Mannes College of Music
Mannes College The New School for Music is The New School university's music conservatory. While the university's main campus is located in Greenwich Village, New York City, Mannes maintains its main academic building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan....
, where his principal teachers included Jacob Druckman
Jacob Druckman
Jacob Druckman was an American composer born in Philadelphia. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood and later continued his studies at the École Normale de...
, Martin Bresnick
Martin Bresnick
Martin Bresnick is a composer of contemporary classical music, film scores and experimental music.-Education and early career:Bresnick was born and raised in the Bronx, and is a graduate of New York City's specialized High School of Music and Art. He was educated at the University of Hartford ,...
, Stephen Jaffe
Stephen Jaffe
Stephen Jaffe is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, USA, and serves on the music faculty of Duke University, where he holds the post of Mary and James H. Semans Professor of Music Composition; his colleagues there include composers Scott...
and David Loeb..
Beck currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, where he is a practicing attorney.