Jennifer Bellor

This past weekend, I was thrilled to be in San Francisco to meet with the Elevate Ensemble and be at their concert on Saturday March 4th titled “After Dark.” Back in December, I found out that I won their Elevate Ensemble Call for Scores competition, and was so honored to hear they wanted to perform my composition Moments Shared, Moments Lost for clarinet and electric organ.

I arrived on Friday for their rehearsal, and was blown away by the performance! Featuring clarinetist Jonathan Szin and Nick Bacchetto on electric organ, it was a very moving interpretation of the piece. Here are some photos of the performance and also of me talking about my composition.

We explored San Francisco in between the concert and rehearsals, going to lots of coffee shops and even was able to fit in a 90-minute sail around Alcatraz!

The Missouri State University 2017 Composition Festival was February 27-March 1 featuring two wonderful concerts with a wide variety of new music! Directed by faculty composer Mike Murray, I was thrilled to be the guest composer along with Lansing D. McLoskey, and had a blast meeting with the performers, faculty, and students.

Monday’s concert featured chamber works by the guest composers and students on the first half of the program. My composition Stay (2016) was performed by clarinetist Allison Storochuk, pianist Peter Collins, and Scott Cameron on vibraphone. It was a beautiful performance, and a pleasure meeting them!

Tuesday, I really enjoyed working with the students in a master class followed by giving a presentation of my music, sharing compositions Chase the Stars, Moments Shared, Moments Lost, Air and Angels, and excerpts from Bordello Nights.

Wednesday’s concert featured the MSU Chorale conducted by Cameron LaBarr. I was blown away by their performance of Remember, one of the earliest compositions I wrote that I revised back in 2015, which sets the poem by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) titled Remember.

Here is a photo of the composers (and conductor) after the show. It was an honor to be invited to be guest composer for this festival, and I look forward to many more opportunities to make new musical connections with composers and performers!

Elevate Ensemble released the blog interview they did with me as a part of programming my piece “Moments Shared, Moments Lost” for their March 4th concert “After Dark!” I was asked questions ranging from my musical background and how I became passionate about pursuing a career in composition, to what the piece is about along with my favorite non-musical activities. It was really fun! =)

Here’s the link:
https://elevateensemble.com/blog/jennifer-bellor-lsats-compositional-career/

http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com/2017/01/composer-winners-orchestra.html

Her debut album Stay (2016) was featured on NewMusicBox’s Staff Picks as an album displaying a “wonderful demonstration of how to maintain a highly individual compositional identity without needing to take refuge in pre-post-genre musical silos.” (Frank J. Oteri, NewMusicBox).

I’m excited to share the video from the premiere of my song cycle “Songs in the Dark” – the version for voice and piano! I love Emily Brontë’s poetry, and was honored to perform these with Christina Wright-Ivanova on piano at the UNLV Nextet concert November 2nd. I realized more and more the last couple of years how much I miss and love performing. I feel more complete when I aim to perform my own vocal compositions, since I can play a more active role in the music-making process. Here is a little bit about the songs:

When I came across these highly emotional poems, they reminded me of lyrics to rock songs reminiscent of one of my favorite artists, Tori Amos. I decided to compose what I consider alternative rock art song, and create a narrative that ties these poems together: how the main character deals with the varying emotional states that accompany feelings of despair or loss, focusing on the lower register of the voice:
1) “Frozen” – she is caught in the middle of a metaphorical storm that ultimately sucks her into the vortex of despair.
– Piano interlude creating the cold and dreary atmosphere as leaves are falling from trees
2) “Fall, Leaves, Fall” she embraces darkness, welcoming death around her.
3) “I’ll Not Weep” – even though she may be sad that he dies, she really is just sad to be stuck here and hopes that she can die too very soon and join him.

If any of my singer friends want to check them out, send me a message! =)
Here is the audio on SoundCloud:

Thank you, Neva Pilgrim, for including some of my music from my album on upcoming FRESH INK BROADCASTS! =) Today, she will be playing “Fallen Veneer” on the program “Frontier Music.” My compositions “Stay,” “Moments Shared, Moments Lost,” and “Chase the Stars” will be aired on November 13th, 27th and December 4th. Here is a list of upcoming programs that all begin Sunday’s at 2:00 PM EST on Classic FM, WCNY-FM 91.3 Syracuse, http://www.societyfornewmusic.org/ink.cfm, http://tunein.com/radio/WCNY-FM-913-s27969/