Jay Schwartz

Jay Schwartz (born 26 June 1965 in San Diego, California, US) is an American composer living in Europe.

Early life
His father was a professional boxer before becoming a swimming pool maintenance worker in San Diego. His mother was a housewife and later taught kindergarten. He started playing the piano and composing at an early age autodidactically.

He studied music at Arizona State University, where he graduated in 1989, after which he studied musicology in Tübingen, Germany.

Career
From 1992 to 1995 he worked in the archives, at first as a manual labourer, then as archivist of the Staatstheater Stuttgart, Germany, where he then became assistant for incidental music.

His compositions have been performed in renowned festivals such as the New York Phil Biennial, the Salzburg Festival, Biennale di Venezia, the Donaueschinger Musiktage, the Munich Opera Festival, in the Philharmonie Cologne, at WienModern, at the Lucerne Festival, at the Festival Presences Radio France Paris, at the Festival Nova Helsinki, at the International Computer Music Conference, the Ultraschall Festival Berlin, the Documenta in Kassel, the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, the Festival Musicadhoy in Madrid, and the Vancouver New Music Festival, performed by renowned orchestras and ensembles, such as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Bymphony Orchestra, the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Festival Strings Lucerne, the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, the Tonkuenstler Orchestra Vienna, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Bavarian State Opera Munich, the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra (WDR), the Salzburg Opera, Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra, Avanti Chamber Orchestra of Finland, the Remix Ensemble Portugal, the Rai Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale (Italian National Symphony Orchestra), the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR), the Berliner Sinfonie Orchester (Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin), the Staatskapelle Weimar, Ensemble Modern, the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, and the NYYD Ensemble Estonia. In 2000 he received the Bernd-Alois-Zimmermann-Prize for composition from the city of Cologne, Germany. He is a three-time recipient of the Strobel-Fellowship for electronic music from the Südwestrundfunk.

He was awarded a recidency in the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2014 and received the Rome Prize for a residency the Villa Massimo in Rome in 2017/2018. He was a fellow at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy in 2019.

His works are published and represented by Universal Edition Vienna, London, New York.

Orchestral works
Three Pieces for Orchestra (2001) Orchestral Suite, Incidental Music to "Werther: Sprache der Liebe" (2003)

Music for Orchestra I (2005)

Music for Orchestra II (2007)

Music for Voices and Orchestra (2008)

Music for Orchestra III (2010)

Delta – Music for Orchestra IV (2014)

Querendo Invenietis – Music for Orchestra V (2016)

Tonus – Music for Orchestra VI (2019)

Credo – Music for Orchestra VII (2022)

Theta – Music for Orchestra VIII (2023)

Instrumental works
Music for Saxophone and Piano (1992)

Music for Vibraphone and Electronics (1993)

Music for Piano (1994)

Music for 3 Stringed Instruments and Piano, Incidental Music to "Die Möwe" (2001)

Music for Five Stringed Instruments (1997)

Music for Two Saxophones and Two Double Basses (1998)

Music for Piano, Violin and Double Bass (2000)

Music for Cello (2000)

Music for 6 Stringed Instruments, Boy Soprano and Harpsichord, Incidental Music to "Triumph der Liebe" (2001)

Music for 12 Cellos (2002)

Music for 5 Stringed Instruments, Incidental Music to "Werther: Sprache der Liebe"  (2003)

Music for 17 Stringed Instruments (2003)

Music for Chamber Ensemble (2006)

Music for Eight Double Basses (2007)

Music for Flute (2007)

Music for Violin, Cello and Piano (2007)

Music for 13 Cellos (2007)

Music for Five Stringed Instruments II (2009)

Music for Three Stringed Instruments (2011)

M for Baritone and Ensemble (2013)

Lament for Voice and Saxophone Quartet (2013)

Music for String Quartet (2016)

Music for Cello (2019)

Lament for Voice and Saxophone Ensemble (2019)

Vocal works
Music for Six Voices I (2006) Music for Six Voices II (2007)

Music for Six Voices III (2008)

Zwielicht for Mixed Choir, Three Trombones and Organ (2012) In Paradisum for Mixed Choir, Two Violoncellos, Two Double Basses and Organ (2018)

Music theater
Narcissus & Echo, chamber opera (2003)

Sound installations
Music for a Bridge (2000)

Music for Electromagnetic Piano (2000)

Music for Autosonic Gongs I (2001) Donaueschingen

Music for Autosonic Gongs II (2002) International Music Conference Sweden

Music for Autosonic Gongs III (2002) Stadthaus Ulm

Music for Autosonic Gongs IV (2002) Akademie der Kuenste Berlin

Music for Autosonic Gongs V (2003) City of Kaiserslautern

Music for Autosonic Gongs VI (2003) Saint Gereon Cologne

Music for Autosonic Gongs VII (2003) Festival Schichtwechsel Industriekultur Saar

Music for Autosonic Gongs VIII (2005) Homunculus Tanztheater - Semper Depot Vienna

Music for Autosonic Gongs IX (2007) Documenta Kassel XII – Music Board Saint Martin

Music for Autosonic Gongs X (2008) Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik

Music for Autosonic Gongs XI (2017) Villa Massimo Rome

Music for Autosonic Gongs XII (2018) Villa Massimo Rome

Music for Autosonic Gongs XIII (2019) Gropius Bau Berlin

Music for Autosonic Gongs XIV (2021) Music Hall Cincinnati