Montgomery is a native New Yorker, a graduate of the Juilliard School in violin performance, and holds a master\u2019s degree from New York University in music composition.\u00a0 Her publications focus on various combinations of strings, and enjoy wide performance popularity with noted ensembles throughout the country.\u00a0 She is a devoted supporter of educational activities, and youth musical ensembles.\u00a0\u00a0 Her musical style is, if anything eclectic, and is obviously a reflection of the enormous variety of musical art in her native New York City.\u00a0 Mahler once somewhat fatuously remarked something to the effect that a symphony should contain \u201ceverything.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Well, Montgomery dips into a remarkable universe of musical traditions, and reinterprets them in her own voice\u2014just not all in one piece, of course.<\/p>\n
Montgomery relates that she was commissioned in 2009 by the Providence String Quartet and Community Music Works for a composition to celebrate the election of Obama.\u00a0 In that work, Anthem<\/em>, she more or less wove together elements of \u201cThe Star Spangled Banner\u201d and \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing.\u201d\u00a0 The latter, of course, is often referred to as the Black National Anthem. Later, in 2014 the composer was commissioned by the Sphinx Organization for a work to commemorate the 200th<\/sup> anniversary of the \u201cThe Star Spangled Banner.\u201d\u00a0 According to the composer, the result, Banner,<\/em> takes the previous composition as a point of departure for a rhapsody that incorporates such disparate elements as the national anthem and the Black national anthem, as well as the national anthems of Puerto Rico and Mexico, and other patriotic and folk songs.\u00a0 Montgomery is a self-confessed fan of marching bands and drum corps, and imitates their sectional musical form as well as incorporating the entertaining and dazzling virtuosity of their \u201cdrum lines\u201d into Banner<\/em> as a forceful rhythmic element at the end.\u00a0 An important symbolic element is the musical contrast and exchange between the solo string quartet and the rest of the orchestra\u2014a Baroque touch, indeed.\u00a0 Montgomery avers that it represents societal change driven by individuals interacting with the consensus. The various motifs and melodic snippets come together in the peroration<\/em> in kaleidoscopic layers of teeming elements.<\/p>\n Banner<\/em>, employing a challenging and often enigmatic musical language, and positing the warts in our nation\u2019s history, comes close to \u201cgrievance art\u201d so predominant among young artists on the \u201cwoke\u201d political left.\u00a0 It certainly will not please all. While it may seem an odd, even disrespectful \u201ctribute\u201d to our beloved national anthem, all art is by its nature personal and subjective.\u00a0\u00a0 Withal, Montgomery creates a work that incorporates the remarkable diversity of our country, and within the context of an homage acknowledges \u201cthe contradictions, leaps and bounds and milestones that allow us to celebrate and maintain the tradition of our ideals.\u201d<\/p>\n —<\/em>Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n \u00a92021 William E. Runyan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"program_note_tax":[143],"class_list":["post-384","program_note","type-program_note","status-publish","hentry","program_note_tax-jessiemontgomery"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note\/384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/program_note"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"program_note_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note_tax?post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}