“JERICHO is by far the most imaginative, unusual and successful work I have ever performed in 33 years of conducting.” Richard Fischer, Distinguished Prof. of Music Concordia Univ. Chicago
“RAHAB is one of the most moving, intense, and exciting compositions I have had the privilege of conducting.” Jeffery Scott Doebler, Past President Indiana Bandmasters Association
THE PASSION OF JOHN BROWN “The audience was overwhelmed, and their powerful response has continued unabated.” Christopher Wilkins, Music Director, The Akron Symphony
Featured Work
There’s A Stirrin’ in the Water
“The place was electric!”
“Audience members were on their feet!”
“I came home exhilarated! I love this piece!”
Jesse Ayers Receives Governor’s Award for Outstanding 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, its 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.”
“I have been so blessed over my career to have had the opportunity to work with so many outstanding musicians, both professionals and students, who have been diligent to perform my music at a high level,” responds Ayers. “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 who come 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.”