Chicagoan of the Year for Classical Music: CSO composer-in-residence Jessie Montgomery is new here, but her presence is already felt

When naming its Mead Composer-in-Residence, the Chicago Symphony doesn’t expect appointees to take the “in residence” part seriously. Most fly in and out, structuring their visits around MusicNOW concerts — the contemporary music series they’re charged with curating — and CSO commissions.

But last year, halfway through her three-year residency, Jessie Montgomery moved out of the Lower East Side apartment she grew up in to settle in Chicago. Her mother, Robbie McCauley, was an actress and playwright who died in 2021; her father, Edward Montgomery, is a jazz musician who occasionally accompanies her to CSO engagements. Montgomery first picked up a violin at New York’s Third Street Music School Settlement, blocks from where she lived; later, she attended Juilliard, then NYU, and was a member of the PUBLIQuartet and Catalyst Quartet.

These days, though, Chicago just makes sense for Montgomery, now 42 and among the most avidly commissioned composers of her generation. Many of her closest collaborators are based here, like violinist Caitlin Edwards and cellist Tahirah Whittington, both of whom play with the all-Black chamber organization D-Composed, and new-music ensemble Fulcrum Point. Her MusicNOW programming has taken a shine to composer-performers — an oddly rare label in today’s classical music landscape, and one the violin-toting Montgomery wears with pride — and welcomed back Chicago-born talents such as cellist Gabriel Cabezas and composer Elijah Daniel Smith.

Montgomery lives in Pilsen, which has a vibrant arts scene and grassroots spirit that echoes the Lower East Side of her youth. Really, in her eyes, much of Chicago does.

“It feels like there’s a little bit more access, a bit more ability to say, ‘Hey, let’s do this project’ and just do it, without as many hurdles,” Montgomery says. “I’m at a point in my career and life where I’m able to choose the projects I want to do. Being here has given me the space and clarity to figure out what that’s going to look like in the next five years. There’s not this sense that you’re always getting ready to head out the door.”

Rooting herself in a bastion of Black art and creativity like Chicago has become increasingly essential for Montgomery. After the murder of George Floyd, her commissions and performances multiplied when classical music organizations across the country apparently discovered racism overnight. She went into overdrive, then writer’s block.

To process, Montgomery joined a group chat with other Black composers. They first called themselves Les Six, referencing a nickname given to a cadre of 20th century Francophone composers; with the addition of composer Carlos Simon, they’re now the Blacknificent 7. With Montgomery’s move, nearly half the collective is now based here: Shawn Okpebholo teaches at Wheaton College in the western suburbs, and Damien Geter, a multifaceted composer, singer and conductor currently working on an operatic adaptation of the story of the landmark Loving v. Virginia court case, relocated here from Portland, Oregon.

The first MusicNOW concert of the season, on Dec. 3, unveiled the Blacknificent 7 as a “composer collective” for the first time, with Montgomery and Simon improvising interludes for violin and piano. It smashed ticket-sale records for the MusicNOW series from the past five years.

“One of Jessie’s superpowers is being a curator and a producer. Her inventiveness and imagination was apparent even with this Blacknificent 7 concert: she chose the order, she thought of the interludes and responded to the pieces (in her improvisations),” Okpebholo says. “That’s not just how Carlos and Jessie compose. It’s also a nod to our Black history of improvisation.”

Montgomery’s tenure as the CSO’s composer-in-residence ends this season. Trust, then, that Chicago will be hearing more from her beyond the 200 block of South Michigan. Third Coast Percussion features Montgomery as both commissioned composer and violin soloist in May. The same month, CSO principal percussionist Cynthia Yeh debuts a new percussion concerto by Montgomery; Yeh had been intrigued by her percussion writing in “Hymn for Everyone,” a 2021 CSO commission released by the orchestra’s label this year, and wanted to hear more. (“It’s my year of percussion,” Montgomery jokes.) Montgomery is also in talks with the bleeding-edge Ensemble Dal Niente for future projects and is figuring out what’s next for Blacknificent 7. She’s still floating from the ecstatic reception of the Dec. 3 MusicNOW show.

“What we saw in terms of audience participation showed an interest — a really enthusiastic interest — in how Black musicians contribute in classical music,” Montgomery says. “People didn’t necessarily know what kind of music they were going to get; they only knew it was going to be something that they hadn’t heard before. The trust was really in the culture.”

Hannah Edgar is a freelance critic.

The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism helps fund our classical music coverage. The Chicago Tribune maintains editorial control over assignments and content.