Jessie Montgomery (b 1981) is one of today's most relevant and important interpreters of 21st-century American sound and experience. She has been involved with Community MusicWorks, a Providence, Rhode Island community outreach music education program, as well as the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit-based nonprofit that supports young African American and Latinx string players. Her music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, and has been performed by such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, A Far Cry, San Francisco Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony.
Montgomery's ''Rhapsody No. 1'' for unaccompanied violin is the first of six projected solo violin works, ''each of which will be dedicated to a different contemporary violinist, and inspired by an historical composer.'' ''Rhapsody No. 1'' is the first solo violin piece she wrote for herself and is inspired by the works of Eugene Ysaye. It is filled with double-stop polyphony, dazzling arpeggios, and improvisitory passages. Suitable for advanced players.
