Jay Reise, Composer

Bio & Reviews

Photo Credit: Marina Garcia Burgos

JAY REISE
COMPOSER

Award-winning composer Jay Reise wrote both the music and libretto for his opera Rasputin which was commissioned by the late Beverly Sills and premiered by the New York City Opera in 1988. The work was described in The Washington Times as “a spellbinding, challenging and profoundly beautiful creation.” Rasputin was given its Russian premiere in in 2008 by the Helikon Opera and has been performed by them over the last 10 years in Moscow, Estonia (Saaremaa Opera Festival) and Paris (Opéra de Massy). In November 2017, it was presented in Moscow as part of the commemoration marking the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. He is currently working on Orpheus in Meikai, a tone poem for koto and string quartet, and an opera Al Capone and Family.

Reise’s Oscar Wilde-based ballet fairy-tale The Selfish Giant was commissioned and premiered by the Philharmonia Orchestra in London conducted by Djong Victorin Yu in 1997. The River Within (Concerto for Violin and Orchestra) (2008) was premiered by Maria Bachmann and Orchestra 2001 and recorded for Innova Records.

Deeply influenced by Carnatic (South Indian) music and jazz (especially Jimmy Giuffre and George Russell), the music of Jay Reise is characterized by rich harmonies, dramatic gestures and vibrant rhythms. His music has been performed widely both in the United States and abroad including an all-Reise retrospective concert in Moscow in 2000.

Reise was born in New York City and his teachers included George Crumb, Jimmy Giuffre, Hugh Hartwell, Adrian L’Armand, and Richard Wernick. He has lived in Philadelphia since he was appointed to the music faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in 1980. Previous to his appointment at Penn, Reise taught for four years at Hamilton College during which he composed his first two symphonies supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Guggenheim fellowship. Symphony of Voices was premiered at the Monadnock Festival, and his Symphony II was premiered by the Syracuse Symphony, conducted by Christopher Keene, and performed subsequently by the Philadelphia Orchestra. His Third Symphony was supported by the Dietrich and Rockefeller Foundations and premiered by the Long Island Philharmonic.

Recent performances of Reise’s chamber music have taken place in Cuba and on tour in the United Arab Emirates. In 2015 his dance-poem The Gift to Urashima Taro was premiered by Exit Dance at the Newburyport Festival and The Inland Sea (Piano Sonata No. 3) was premiered by James Primosch in 2019. Covid-restricted online premieres included In the blink of an eye..., a miniature song cycle for soprano and 4 instruments, and The Warrior Violinist performed by the English Symphony Orchestra with Davood Ghadami narrator and Kenneth Woods conductor.

Recordings include The Devil in the Flesh and Other Pieces featuring pianist Marc-André Hamelin and, most recently, The Warrior Violinist with the English Symphony Orchestra.

Awards and fellowships include the Fromm and Rockefeller Foundations, the US-Japan Friendship Commission, Bellagio, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Barlow Foundation, the Hamilton College Medal for the Arts, and the Koussevitzky Tanglewood Prize in Composition.

Jay Reise is Emeritus Professor of Music Composition at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

Rasputin

Opera in Two Acts "The score is often beautiful, even flamboyant...a very fine show, which certainly deserves to experience a much wider international distribution."

- ForumOpera.com (Performance at Opéra de Massy, Paris)

"Reise's score...serve[s] quite nicely to underline and reinforce the dramatic events on stage. Especially effective is Reise's use of traditional tonality -- including quotes from Pyotr Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" and the Russian imperial hymn -- for the music of Nicholas and Alexandra, as well as atonal dissonance to conjure up what he calls, in a program note, the brutal and chaotic new world of the 20th century'."

- Moscow Times (Performance at Helikon Opera, Moscow)

"The new opera is a spellbinding, challenging and profoundly beautiful creation."

– The Washington Times

" audaciously colorful opera"

- Philadelphia City Paper

“In the epilogue in particular, dissonance rules, wild string glissandi prevail and a masterful rhythmic polyphony carries the music to a stunning climax…opera lovers can anticipate a challenging but entirely rewarding experience.”

- The Opera Critic

Lunahuaná

"Typical of the Penn-based composer, his choice of notes was elegant and, more important with percussion, his ear for timbre was incredibly precise. This short, winning piece doesn't take easy ways out.”

- Philadelphia Inquirer

The River Within (Concerto for Violin and Orchestra)

"... fluidity and mastery that creates an optimum showcase for his attractive thematic ideas."

- Philadelphia Inquirer

Memory Refrains

"One hesitates to burden any recent composition with the designation “masterpiece”, but Memory Refrains is surely music that deserves to be taken up by other major quartets so as to become a post-Romantic repertoire staple."

- Philadelphia Music Makers

The Devil in the Flesh and Other Pieces (Recording featuring Marc-André Hamelin)

"Satori …with its starlit rotations and seemingly suspended atmosphere, makes a striking impression. Six Pictures from The Devil in the Flesh..[is] a fine group of virtuoso pieces…[with] a riotously sizzling finale."

- American Record Guide

Yellowstone Rhythms for Bassoon and 10 Players

"... nature in its most songful state."

- Philadelphia Inquirer

Powers That Be

“… the kind of transcendence that lets you know you’re in the presence of greatness.”

- Journal of the Scriabin Society of America

The Selfish Giant Choreographic Tone Poem based on the story by Oscar Wilde

"It had epic quality. The full organ, the rolling timps and the squabbling brass at the start had weight. A clumsy giant's angry dissonances were peeled back to reveal strings pulling anguished chords."

- Evening Standard (London)

Open Night - Poem-Caprice for Six Players

"..magnetism was immediate in the heart-grabbing opening violin solo of the sextet… the piece unfolds with a reasoning that's hard to explain but great to feel ... melodic lines of almost Wagnerian breadth… inflected with the kind of emotional eventfulness that doesn't require a slow buildup.."

- The Philadelphia Inquirer

Transcription of Scriabin Etude Op. 2 No. 1 for left hand

“Jay Reise’s skillful transcription was such that it lacked nothing of the original sounds. That took quite a bit of doing by Reise, and indeed a good deal more from pianist Gary Graffman. Yet it all worked out beautifully.”

– The San Francisco Classical Voice

Selected Works (with premieres and selected performances)

Al Capone (opera in two acts) in progress (2 hrs. 30 min.)

The Inland Sea (Piano Sonata No. 3) (2018) (13:00)

Barcarola reminiscencia cello/piano (2018) (8:00)

The Ghost of the Red Sea Swallow for violin and piano (2017) (8:00)

Anastasya Vedyakov, violin; Moscow and Suzdal, Russia

September Bamboo for cello and piano (2016) (3:00) Dorothy Lawson, cello;

Taka Kigawa piano; Tenri Cultural Institute, NYC

Side Streets for saxophone quartet (2016) (12:00) PRISM Phila. & NYC

The Gift to Urashima Taro (dance-poem) (2015) (20:00) Exit Dance, Newburyport, Mass. Version for flute and string orchestra (2017)

Disenchanted Forest for clarinet and piano (2015) (10:00) Tod Palmer, clarinet; Ieva Jokubaviciute; Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

Yīnyuè (Berceuse-Nocturne for String Trio and Piano) (2015) (10:00)

George Lopez, piano; Ensemble Epomeo; Philadelphia

The Shadow of the Red Sea Swallow (flute and harp) (2014) (8:00)

(based on The Ghost of the Red Sea Swallow) Mimi Stillman (flute)

String Trio (2013) (16:00) Ensemble Epomeo

Sonatina for Viola and Piano (2013) 14:00

The Ghost of the Red Sea Swallow for flute and piano (2012) (7:00)

Havana, Cuba (based on The Flight of the Red Sea Swallow)

The Warrior Violinist (Fairy Tale for narrator, violin and cello) (2012) (15:00)

Auricolae, Philadelphia; recorded London, 2013

El Violinista Guerrero (2015) Visual Arts and Music Festival, Havana, Cuba

Piano Sonata No. 2 (2011-12) (23:00) Philadelphia; Konstantinos Papadakis, piano; recorded Boston, 2013 (forthcoming)

The Flight of the Red Sea Swallow (Ballad for Violin and Piano) (2011) (17:00)

Maria Bachmann, violin, Jon Klibonoff, piano; Philadelphia Version for flute, Michele Kelly, flute; Matthew Bengtson piano (2013)

Lunahuaná for percussion, 2 players (2010) (8:00) Wm.Kerrigan, David Nelson Philadelphia and Swarthmore PA

Rasputin - opera in two acts (1988, revised 2008) (2 hrs.) Libretto by the composer. Helikon Opera, Moscow 2008-18. Opéra de Massy, Paris 2010; Saaremaa Festival, Estonia, 2012. Commissioned by Beverly Sills and the New York City Opera 1988

Arrangements of Scriabin Etudes for left hand alone (Op.2/1, Op.8/11&12)

(Published in The Journal of the Alexander Scriabin Society of America) Gary Graffman (Op. 2/1) tour USA, Europe, Asia, (2007-09)Matthew Bengtson (Complete) PianoCraft, Scriabin Himalayas Festival (2015) Mikhail Dubov (Op. 8 No.11) A.N. Scriabin Museum, Moscow 2015

The River Within (Concerto for Violin and Orchestra) (2008) (26:00)

Maria Bachmann, violin; Orchestra 2001, James Freeman, conductor; (Recorded Innova 745; Audiophile Audition "Best of 2011")

Concerto for Horn and 7 Instruments (2006) (27:00) Adam Unsworth, Network for New Music

Powers That Be for piano quintet (2005) (28:00) Cassatt Quartet, Marc-André Hamelin; Commissioned by the Barlow Foundation; Philadelphia

Across the Horizons (clarinet, violin, cello, and piano) (2004) (23:00) Four Horizons (Recorded Albany TROY 1004)

Open Night Poem-Caprice for six instruments (2003) (17:00) Kimmel Center Fresh Ink; (Recorded Albany TROY 1004

Jisei (Japanese Death Songs) (voice and shakuhachi) (2003, revised 2014) (11:00) Mika Kimula and Christopher Yomei

Memory Refrains for String Quartet (2002) (28:00) Cassatt Quartet; (Recorded Albany TROY 1004)

Three Pictures from The Devil in the Flesh for Two Pianos (2002, revised 2014) (12:00) Jerome Lowenthal and Ursula Oppens

Yellowstone Rhythms for Bassoon and 10 Players (2001) (17:00) Charles Ullery, bassoon, Network for New Music, (2001) Version for bassoon and piano (Recorded by Ullery & Marc-André Hamelin) Albany TROY 665) (1994)

Concerto for Cello and 13 Instruments (2000) (32:00) Ulrich Boeckheler, cello; Orchestra 2001 (Recorded CRI CD 899);

Satori (1994) (9:00) Jody Karin Applebaum, soprano; Marc-André Hamelin, piano; (Recorded Albany TROY 665) (2001)

Six Pictures from The Devil in the Flesh for piano (2000) (16:00) Marc-André Hamelin, piano (Recorded Albany TROY 665)

The Selfish Giant (1997) (26:00) (Choreographic tone-poem in six scenes for orchestra based on the fairy tale by Oscar Wilde) Commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra (London); Djong Yu, conductor

Duo Rhythmikosmos for violin (1994) (23:00) Commissioned by the Network for New Music, Philadelphia, (Recorded Centaur CRC 2598)

Sonata Rhythmikosmos for piano (1993-94) (12:00) Commissioned by Mari Akagi, tours in Japan and US, (Recorded by Marc-André Hamelin Albany TROY 665)

Trio Rhythmikosmos, violin, cello, piano (1993) (18:00) Premiere by Mobius Trio, Spoleto, Charleston, S.C. (Recorded Centaur CRC 2598)

Rhythmic Garlands for piano (1992) (18:00) James Primosch, Curtis Institute; Jerome Lowenthal, Cleveland Institute; Juilliard NYC; Curtis Institute (Recorded Centaur CRC 2598)

Sinfonietta for Wind Quintet (1986) (15:00) Commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

Symphony No. 3 (1983) (22:00) Long Island Philharmonic Orchestra

Symphony No. 2 (1979) (25:00) Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, 1980; Philadelphia Orchestra 1984

Symphony of Voices (1977) (16:00) New Hampshire Symphony, Neva Pilgrim soprano, James Bolle, conductor, 1978; Grand Teton Festival Orchestra 1983

Discography (*Denotes all-Reise CD)

The Warrior Violinist Auricolae Double Album (AVIE Recordings) AV2292 2014

The River Within: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (Innova 745)

(CD To the Point Audiophile Audition Best of the Year 2011)

*Jay Reise Chamber Music (Albany TROY 1004)

*The Devil in the Flesh and Other Pieces (Albany TROY665)

*Rhythmic Garlands and Other Pieces (Centaur CRC 2598)

Concerto for Cello and 13 Instruments (CRI 899)