Jay Anthony Gach
Lives in New York, United States
Jay Anthony Gach’s (b.1955) instrumental concert music has been critically acclaimed as "witty, virtuosic and accessible", "so exuberant [and] so characterful", "a natural crowd pleaser", "vibrant textures", "multi-layered, whirling and propulsive". Summarized by the composer Lukas Foss during his tenureship as conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, "his writing for orchestra is brilliant beyond words". Mr. Gach's compositions for the voice have been aptly characterized with the simple phrase, "such beautiful music". The composer Hugo Weisgal wrote of him, "a composer... of extraordinary technical command and intellectual grasp of what music is all about".
Jay Anthony Gach’s original concert music has been performed, recorded and broadcast internationally by ensembles including the St. Paul Chamber Orch./Enrique Diemecke, Brooklyn Philharmonic/Lukas Foss, American Composers Orchestra/Paul Dunkel, National Italian Youth Orchestra/Vinko Globokar, City of London Sinfonia, Haydn Chamber Orchestra of London, the Britten Sinfonia Soloists, Vox Juventus Poland, the Gregg Smith Singers, the NY Treble Singers and by solo artists including British pianist Ronan Magill, American clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and the soprano and tenor duo Grace Hart & Enzo Citarelli. He has received commissions and awards in over thirty national and international competitions including the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, Astral Foundation (Pew-Bandy) of New York and Philadelphia, Valentino Bucchi Concorsi Internazionale, Third British Contemporary Piano Music Competition, Delta Omicron Composition Prize, Dr. J. Howland Auchincloss Society for New Music Composition Prize, New York Foundation for the Arts, MacDowell Colony, Tanglewood Music Center (Bruno Maderna Fellowship), et al.
Between 1981 and 1999 he resided and worked in European capitals returning to New York in 2000. His foreign fellowships include Dartington, England International Summer School Fellowship, American Academy in Rome, Italy Music Composition Fellowship and a Research Assistantship from State University of New York to Universitat Tubingen & the Hochschule fur Musik Stuttgart, Germany. In the summer of 2005 his music was featured at the Dubrovnik Music Festival, the Edinburgh Arts Festival, the Crested Butte Music Festival, and the Adirondack Music Festival. Mr Gach has written and conducted many arrangements and original scores for the educational and commercial media, including: The Selfish Giant, a children’s musical; Legends from Bodmin Moor, a film; British Rail’s “Mind the Doors”, an advertisement; and The Hurlers, an animation film. In 2006 he was honoured at an induction ceremony as a National Patron of the Delta Omicron Music Fraternity. His biography has appeared in Marquis ‘Who’s Who in America’ since 2006. In 2007 he was selected as a Resident Artist at the American Lyric Theatre Development Program in NYC where his opera "Nora at the Altar Rail", libretto by Royce Vavrek received its first performance at the Leonard Nimoy/Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space. Mr Gach currently serves as Secretary of the Long Island Composers Alliance.
EDUCATION: Ph.D State University of New York at Stony Brook 1982,
FLCM Fellow London College of Music 1993
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- INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS:
Dartington, England International Summer School 1991. American Academy in Rome, Italy Composition Fellowship 1983-4. Research Assistantship University Tubingen, Germany 1980-1.
- USA FELLOWSHIPS:
Wellesley, New Hampshire, Johnson College & Bennington College Composers Conferences 2001/1989/82/81. New York Foundation for the Arts 1990. MacDowell Colony 1982. Tanglewood Music Center (Bruno Maderna Composition Fellowship) 1979.
- SIGNIFICANT COMMISSIONS, GRANTS, PRIZES
Long Island Composers Alliance/Concert Artists Guild Collaborations 2008. Music+Culture International Piano Music Competition USA, 2007. Induction as National Patron Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity, 2006. Delta Omicron Triennial Composition Competition, USA 2005. J.Howland Auchincloss Prize of the Society for New Music, USA 2005. Childrens Aid Society Chorus, USA 2004. Saxtet Publications Composition Competition, UK 2004. William Lincer Foundation, USA 2004. Upbeat-Hvar International Summer School, Croatia 2003. Kathryn Thomas International Flute Composition Competition, UK 2000. SPNM/Huddersfield Festival, UK 1998. Haydn Chamber Orchestra of London, UK 1997. Oberlin College Chorale, USA 1995. Islington Internation Arts Festival, UK 1995. Third British Contemporary Piano Competition, UK 1994. Bristol New Music Days, UK 1993. The National Italian Youth Orch, Italy 1993. Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, USA 1992. New York Foundation for the Arts, 1990. Meet the Composer, USA 1988/89/90/02/05. ASCAP Standard Awards, USA 1988-2008. American Composers Orchestra, USA 1988. Brooklyn Philharmonic (Frederick P. Rose Competition - 1st prize), USA 1988. St. Paul Chamber Orchestra American Composers Competition - Winner, USA 1985. Astral Foundation (Pew-Bandy) of New York and Philadelphia, USA 1985. Valentino Bucchi Concorsi Internazionale, Italy 1984. MacDowell Colony, 1982. et al
- PUBLICATIONS
Merion Music Inc. Theodore Presser Company, Carl Fischer, JAG-U-AR EZ Music, Classical Vocal Reprints of New York, Granta/Little Bookroom, PBA Music, Saxtet Publications.
- CRITICAL COMMENTARY
“Unmistakably Ol’ Scratch at work…The piece continues in an equally virtuosic way for all the instrumentalists.”('Idle Hands are the Devil’s Workshop', Syracuse New Times, 4/06). "[Gach's saxophone quartet] requires excellent ensemble and precise articulation. It is witty, virtuosic and accessible. Gach has cleverly used the quartet to convey the title in a very original way." ('Trains, Steam Whistles and Radiator Pipes', Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine, Summer 2006). "Finding inspiration in a Calliope's refrain". ('Calliope', New York Times 1/03). "...exuberant sonata...so characterful...could have been written especially for [the pianist]". ('A London Sonata', SPNM New Notes 11/94). "Bravo e bravissimi...". ('TATTOO', La Repubblica 12/92). "Lively duets...notated precisely and popular with performers". ('Six Pieces for Two Violins', Strings Magazine 7/91). "vibrant textural transformations. ('Simple Figures', NY Times 4/89) "...a natural crowd pleaser". ('CHANT', New York Newsday 5/88). "The music is multi-layered, whirling and propulsive...well-scored and vividly played." ('Il Ponentino', Minneapolis Star 10/85). "einer klaren Pragnanz und sicheren Gestik gekennenzeichnet".('Street Music 1', Sudwest Presse, 6/81)
REFERENCES
I believe he will make a real contribution to the music of his generation". (John Lessard)
...[his] writing for orchestra is brilliant beyond words". (Lukas Foss)
...above all a musician, a craftsman. And there are too few of those in this world". (Billy Jim Layton)
...one of the most talented composers I have come to know in the past twenty years. "...extraordinary technical command and intellectual grasp of what music is all about". (Hugo Weisgall)
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