Jake Runestad

Jake Runestad
Born (1986-05-20) May 20, 1986
Rockford, Illinois, United States
Genres Classical
Occupation(s) Composer and Conductor
Years active 2004–present
Website jakerunestad.com

Jake Runestad (born 20 May 1986) is an American composer of classical music, conductor, singer, and clinician centered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has composed music for a wide variety of musical genres and ensembles, but has achieved greatest acclaim for his work in the genres of opera, orchestral music, and choral music.

Biography

Runestad was born in Rockford, Illinois.[1] His post-secondary education in music began at Eastern Illinois University, which he attended in the years 2004 and 2005. He received his first degree in music (a B.S. in Music Education) from Winona State University, which he attended from 2005 until 2009, then pursued graduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University between 2009 and 2011 to earn a M.Mus. degree in music composition. His teachers at the Peabody Conservatory included Kevin Puts. He has also studied with the composer Libby Larsen and worked with Bernard Rands, David Lang, Tania León, John Musto, Christopher Rouse, Jake Heggie, and John Duffy.

Awards and activities

Runestad has received awards for his compositions from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the American Composers Forum, the Peabody Conservatory, New Music USA, the Otto Bremmer Foundation, VocalEssence, the Virginia Arts Festival, the National Association for Music Education, the Association for Lutheran Church Musicians, and the American Choral Directors Association of Minnesota, and has received commissions for his musical works from the Washington National Opera, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Seraphic Fire, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Virginia Arts Festival, the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, the Spire Chamber Ensemble, the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, and Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare. He was also chosen as a Composer in residence for the 2015-2016 season of Choral Arts. In 2016, he was a recipient of the Morton Gould Young Composer Award from the ASCAP Foundation in recognition of his composition Dreams of the Fallen.

Runestad's compositions have received notices in the New York Times,[2] the Huffington Post,[3] and other newspapers.[4] His music has been published by Boosey & Hawkes and JR Music.

Dreams of the Fallen

On Veterans Day, 11 November 2013, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans, and pianist Jeffrey Biegel, under the direction of James Paul, presented Runestad's Dreams of the Fallen, a work for piano, orchestra, and chorus at the National World War II Museum.[5] The work features the poetry of Iraq War veteran Brian Turner[6] and explores a soldier's emotional response to the experience of war.[5]

Dreams of the Fallen was commissioned by a consortium including the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, and the Virginia Arts Festival.[7]

Discography

Principal Compositions

Operas

Orchestral Works

Choral Works

Jazz Ensemble

Wind Ensemble

Voice and Piano

Voice and Chamber Ensemble

References

  1. ↑ Biographical information about Jake Runestad is collected on the website jakerunestad.com.
  2. ↑ Jake Runestad's work "Dreams of the Fallen" is featured in an article of 7 June 2012: see Interview with Jake Runestad.
  3. ↑ Another notice about "Dreams of the Fallen" is found in an article of 11 August June 2013: see Notice about Jake Runestad's "Dreams of the Fallen".
  4. ↑ The website jakerunestad.com contains a complete listing of press notices concerning the composer's major works.
  5. 1 2 "World Premier! - Dreams of the Fallen", Piano World, In-Tune. October 2013.
  6. ↑ "Composer Jake Runestad's Dreams of the Fallen -- A Veterans Day Happening at the National WWII Museum", Sean Martinfield, HuffPost Arts & Culture. November 8, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Dreams of the Fallen, Participating Ensembles". Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 "Seraphic Fire, Recordings". Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  9. ↑ "National Lutheran Choir, Sheer Grace". Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  10. ↑ See Many Voices, One Song recordings.
  11. ↑ Reviews of Daughters of the Bloody Duke are available from the Communities Digital News and the The Washington Post: "Bloody Politics 2014", December 5, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014, and "At Washington National Opera, 20-Minute Operas are on the Right Track", November 23, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.

External links

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