Jake Runestad

Jake Runestad (born 20 May 1986) is an American composer of classical music, conductor, and singer, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has composed music for a wide variety of musical genres and ensembles, but has achieved greatest acclaim for his work in the genres of opera, orchestral music, and choral music. One of his principal collaborators for musical texts has been the poet Todd Boss.

Biography

Runestad was born in Rockford, Illinois.^[1] His post-secondary education in music began at Eastern Illinois University, which he attended in the years 2004 and 2005. He received his first degree in music (a B.S. in Music Education) from Winona State University, which he attended from 2005 until 2009, then pursued graduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University between 2009 and 2011 to earn a M.Mus. degree in music composition. His teachers at the Peabody Conservatory included Kevin Puts. He has also studied with the composer Libby Larsen and worked with Bernard Rands, David Lang, Tania León, John Musto, Christopher Rouse, Jake Heggie, and John Duffy. He received a Distinguished Young Alumni Award from Winona State University in 2016.^[2]

Awards and activities

Runestad has received awards for his compositions from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the American Composers Forum, the Peabody Conservatory, New Music USA, the Otto Bremmer Foundation, VocalEssence, the Virginia Arts Festival, the National Association for Music Education, the Association for Lutheran Church Musicians, and the American Choral Directors Association of Minnesota, and has received commissions for his musical works from the Washington National Opera, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Seraphic Fire, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Virginia Arts Festival, the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, the Spire Chamber Ensemble, the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, and Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare. He was also chosen as a Composer in residence for the 2015-2016 season of Choral Arts. In 2016, he was a recipient of the Morton Gould Young Composer Award from the ASCAP Foundation in recognition of his composition Dreams of the Fallen.^[3] In May 2017, he was awarded a McKnight Fellowship for Composers (funded by the McKnight Foundation).^[4]

Runestad's compositions have received notices in the New York Times,^[5] the Huffington Post,^[6] and other newspapers.^[7] His music has been published by Boosey & Hawkes and JR Music.

Dreams of the Fallen

On Veterans Day, 11 November 2013, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans, and pianist Jeffrey Biegel, under the direction of James Paul, presented Runestad's Dreams of the Fallen, a work for piano, orchestra, and chorus at the National World War II Museum.^[8][9] The work features the poetry of Iraq War veteran Brian Turner^[10] and explores a soldier's emotional response to the experience of war.^[9]

Dreams of the Fallen was commissioned by a consortium including the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, the Rockford Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, and the Virginia Arts Festival.^[11] It received its New York City premiere with the West Point Glee Club and the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony at Carnegie Hall on 19 November 2016, conducted by David Bernard.^[12]

An audio recording of a 2015 performance of Dreams of the Fallen in St. Paul, Minnesota, was broadcast nationwide on 29 May 2017 (Memorial Day) through the National Public Radio network.^[13]

Discography

• "I Will Lift Mine Eyes" on Seraphic Fire. Seraphic Fire. Patrick Dupré Quigley, conductor. ℗ 2013 Seraphic Fire Media.^[14]
• "Nada Te Turbe" on Sheer Grace, National Lutheran Choir. David Cherwien, conductor. ℗ 2013 The National Lutheran Choir.^[15]
• "Fear Not, Dear Friend" on Reincarnations. Seraphic Fire. Patrick Dupré Quigley, conductor. ℗ 2014 Seraphic Fire Media.^[16]
• "I Will Lift Mine Eyes" on Look Up and See. Sounding Light. Tom Trenney, conductor. ℗ 2014.^[17]
• "Sleep, Little Baby, Sleep" on Candlelight Carols. Seraphic Fire. Patrick Dupré Quigley, conductor. ℗ 2014 Seraphic Fire Media.^[16]

Principal Compositions

Operas

• The Toll (2010), premiered at the Peabody Conservatory, Friedberg Hall, 4 May 2010.
• The Abbess and the Acolyte (2011), premiered at the Virginia Arts Festival, 12 June 2011.
• Daughters of the Bloody Duke (2014), premiered at the Washington National Opera on 21 November 2014;^[18] revived 7 February 2016, American Lyric Theater, New York City

Orchestral Works

• "As Rain to the Sea" (2010, soprano soloist with orchestra)
• "Mechanical Minds" (2011)
• "Dreams of the Fallen" (2013, solo piano, chorus, and orchestra)
• "Climb" (2017, chorus and orchestra), text by Todd Boss

Choral Works

• "Nyon, Nyon" (2006, SATB)
• "I Will Lift Mine Eyes" (2006, SATB), performed before Pope Francis at the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, on 20 November 2016
• "Vocalise Mystique" (2009, SATB)
• "Lux Aeterna" (2011, SSAA)
• "Fear Not, Dear Friend" (2012, SATB or TTBB), commissioned by Seraphic Fire
• "Nada Te Turbe" (2012, SATB), commissioned by Seraphic Fire
• "Sleep, Little Baby, Sleep" (2012, SATB with piano), commissioned by Seraphic Fire
• "Alleluia" (2013, SATB)
• "Dereva Ni Mungu" (2013, SATB, percussion, piano)
• "The King of Love" (2013, SATB and piano)
• "None Other Lamb" (2013, SATB and piano)
• "Peace Flows Into Me" (2013, SATB and piano)
• "The Peace of Wild Things" (2014, SATB and piano)
• "Spirited Light" (2014, SATB)
• "We Can Mend the Sky" (2014, SATB and percussion)
• "Why the Caged Bird Sings" (2014, SATB), commissioned by Craig Hella Johnson and the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble
• "A Prayer" (2014, SATB)
• "Let My Love Be Heard" (2014, SATB), commissioned by Choral Arts
• "Ner Ner" (2014, SATB), commissioned by the The College of Wooster’s Wooster Chorus
• "Goodnight, My Love" (2015, SATB and piano), commissioned by Marietta College, text by Paul Lawrence Dunbar
• "Gaelic Prayer" (2015, SATB)
• "And So I Go On" (2015, SSAATTBB), commissioned by Jonathan Talberg and Edith Copley in memory of German Aguilar, first performance by the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music Chamber Choir at California State University, Long Beach, text by Todd Boss
• "Come to the Woods" (2015, SATB and piano), commissioned by Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare
• "The Hope of Loving" (2015, SATB, soprano, tenor, baritone, and string quartet), commissioned by Seraphic Fire
• "Waves" (2015, SSAATTBB and piano), commissioned by Robert Istad and California State University, Fullerton, text by Todd Boss
• "All the World’s A Stage" (2015, SATB), commissioned by the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, texts by William Shakespeare
• "One Flock" (2016, SATB, soloists, piano, and percussion), commissioned by Schola Cantorum on Hudson, text by Todd Boss
• "Live the Questions" (2016, SATB), commissioned by Choral Arts
• "Reflections" (2016, SATB and piano), commissioned by the Santa Fe Desert Chorale
• "Please Stay" (2016, SATB and piano)
• "Rise Up" (2016, SSAA and piano), commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association
• "Ave Verum" (2017, SATB and orchestra), first performed 23 April 2017 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, with the Choral Arts Society of Washington, Scott Tucker, conductor, to a text of Todd Boss
• "Untitled" (2017, SATB with instruments)

Jazz Ensemble

• "Home" (2008)

Wind Ensemble

• "Catalyst" (2007)

Voice and Piano

• "How Can I Keep from Singing?" (2011)

Voice and Chamber Ensemble

• "Under the Harvest Moon" (2009, soprano, cello, and piano)
• "The Soul, Like the Moon" (2011, soprano and Pierrot ensemble)

References

External links

• Jake Runestad website
• Jake Runestad's Youtube channel
• Boosey & Hawkes website
• Washington National Opera website
• Jake Runestad biography on IMDb website