Jesse Ayers

From Wind Repertory Project

Jesse Ayers

Biography

Jesse Ayers' (b. Knoxville, TN 1951) music has been performed in Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Russia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, and over 100 U.S. cities, and has twice had his music selected by the International Society of Contemporary Music to represent the United States at the prestigious World Music Days festival.

He began composing around age 14 and while still in high school conducted one of his own works with the University of Tennessee Symphonic Band. He earned the bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Tennessee and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Kentucky. Since 1997, he has taught at Malone University in Canton, Ohio, where he has received the school's Distinguished Faculty Award. His other awards include the 2007 Individual Creativity Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, sixteen awards from the ASCAP, and grants from Meet The Composer and the American Music Center. He has been a guest composer on university campuses in California, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, and Tennessee.

Much of Ayers' music explores the intersection of the spiritual and natural worlds and the redemptive intervention of a very real God in the affairs of the human race. His Jericho for large wind orchestra and narrator reportedly stunned audiences during its 2005-06 premiere season with its unorthodox audience participation, surround-sound effects, and spiritual-emotional impact.

"Jericho is by far the most imaginative, unusual and successful work I have ever performed in 33 years of conducting here at Concordia University. Last night [in Little Rock], almost the entire audience was in tears after Jericho. The host was so choked up she couldn't talk to the audience. She was speechless and crying in front of the entire audience." —Dr. Richard Fischer, Concordia University Chicago

"Even without the Biblical elements, Dr. Ayers’ works are wonderful. But with the addition of the spiritual element, each piece has even deeper meaning and feeling. All of the works are extremely well-crafted by a composer who really knows and respects the concert band." —Dr. Jeffrey Doebler, Valparsiso University, Past-president, Indiana Music Educators Assn.