News
Composer John White: "Knocked out by Ayers' JERICHO"
"We heard Jericho this morning [at the concert in Denver} and my wife and I were both knocked out by it! Great! Congratulations! We enjoyed the audience participation, but the music stands on its own, even without that. There were children there too, as young as kindergarten age, and they enjoyed it too! Your command of the instrumentation is very impressive."
—Dr. John White, composer
University of Vienna Distinguished Chair in Humanities
Professor of Music Emeritus, University of Florida
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Terry Treuden: "Ayers' JERICHO hit of the tour"
"I have found Jericho to be one of the most effective pieces I have ever had the pleasure to conduct. There is no doubt it makes a lasting impression on the audience. Jericho was "the hit" of the program whenever we performed it. People LOVED it. The audience just kept talking about your piece after our performances." —Prof. Terry Treuden, Director of Instrumental Music, Wisconsin Lutheran College.
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Rossview HS Wind Ensemble first HS band to perform Ayers' FIRE OF THE LIVING GOD
May 14, 2010. The Rossview High School Wind Ensemble, Clarksville, Tennessee, under the direction of Brock Cobb, performed Jesse Ayers' The Fire of the Living God on their Spring concert May 14, 2010. This was the first time a high school band has attempted this surround-sound work, heretofore played only by university bands. Composer Ayers, who was in attendance, was very pleased with their performance. "I am so glad I made the trip to Clarksville," says Ayers. "It was so excitting to hear my work performed by these young, talented, and energetic musicians. And it was a genuine pleasure to meet Brock Cobb and his assistants, and to get to meet some of the students and parents."
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Wisconsin Lutheran Concert Band performs Ayers' JERICHO in 4 states
May 2010. The Concert Band of the Winsconsin 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.
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Former Ayers student wins 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music
Jennifer Higdon, who studied privately with Jesse Ayers in the early 1980s, has won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Story here
David Daniels: Ayers' JOHN BROWN piece "an amazing work"
March 11, 2010. "[I have been] listening to [The Passion of John Brown] with score in hand. It is an amazing work, beautifully paced and orchestrated. I love it. If it weren't that I have retired from conducting, I would be figuring out a way to program it."
—David Daniels
author of Orchestral Music, A Handbook
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Maestro Christopher Wilkins: "Ayers' JOHN BROWN piece a knock out"
Christopher Wilkins
Music Director, Akron Symphony Orchestra
"Jesse Ayers' The Passion of John Brown is a total knock-out. On a purely visceral level it is magnificent. The audience was overwhelmed, and their powerful response has continued unabated. I keep hearing from people how moved they were by the music, the drama, the pacing, and the haunting 'flashbacks.'
"Just as remarkable was the reaction of our educational audiences. At first, I was reluctant to program The Passion of John Brown in its entirety for middle schoolers, unsure whether it could hold their attention for 19 minutes. But as it turned out, they were perfectly rapt, nobody moved! They were as quiet as any adult audience. Teacher surveys have come back to us now - all ten out of ten.
"Ayers had artfully achieved many things at once: he has covered a crucial chapter in American history in a clear and memorable way. He has brought tension and drama to the vexing questions of slavery, abolition, and armed resistance. And he has added to the history books something only music can: he's given John Brown flesh and blood. Ayers portrays both the everyday qualities of father, husband, and citizen, and the outsized passions that emboldened Brown in the most extraordinary ways. We hear in Ayers' piece Brown's authentic voice."
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Akron Symphony Orch. 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.
Brown lived in the Akron area for many years and is among its most famous citizens.
Assisting in the performance were Malone University vocal majors Matthew Clear, Daniel Liebman, and Andrew Black [in photo at left], all of whom have studied music analysis with Dr. Ayers.
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.
John Brown died a controversial figure, demonized by some and admired by others. 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.
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 October 16 in Houston, October 18 in Austin, and October 31 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.
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Ayers' WALDSTEIN EXPRESS performed in Europe
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.
There were five students who wanted to perform this piece, so to add to the humor of the piece, the fifth player meanders in as though he is a passerby, and rotates into the piece. What enthusiasm in this performance!
