Biography
Jeremy Gill is a conductor, composer, and pianist whose activities cover a remarkably broad range of musical styles and types. During the 2009-2010 season, he appeared as conductor with the Penn Composers Guild and Network for New Music in premieres of six new works by Philadelphia composers; with the Delaware County Symphony and Newark Symphony Orchestra in works by Barber, Brahms, Khachaturian, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich; and with the Ocean City Pops and Concert Operetta Theatre in a co-production of The Chocolate Soldier by Oscar Straus. As a pianist, he played recitals in New York and Philadelphia that included chamber music (with flutist Mimi Stillman), song (with mezzo-soprano Maren Montalbano), and opera (with Opera Sycamore).
In the 2010-2011 season, Jeremy begins his tenure as the newly-appointed Music Director of the Delaware County Symphony in a season that includes music from Giovanni Gabrieli through a new work written for DCS by Carlos Carrillo. His past conducting positions include Assistant Conductor of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the Atlantic Coast Opera Festival and the orchestras of West Chester University, Dickinson College, and Messiah College. Writing in the New Jersey Courier-Post, Robert Baxter described his 2005 opera debut with Die Fledermaus as “a sprightly, lilting musical performance,” and that, “guided by Gill's deft hand, the music gleamed.” Recent engagements have included many premieres by Philadelphia composers; in 2008-2009, he conducted nine new works in a two-month period with the Temple Composers Orchestra and Chamber Music Now.
As a composer, Jeremy’s 2008-2009 premieres included Ode, a dramatic cantata for mezzo-soprano, flute/piccolo, cello, and piano, commissioned by Marshall Levine and the Dolce Suono Chamber Music Concert Series, and Symphony No. 1, premiered by the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances by the Great Noise Ensemble, pianist Matthew Bengtson, and Network for New Music with baritone Randall Scarlata in a special performance for renowned Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki during his visit to Philadelphia in October 2008.
His 2009-10 premieres included Soglie, Serenate, Sfere for oboe and two percussion, premiered at the Juilliard School by oboist ToniMarie Marchioni; Helian, a fifteen-song setting of Georg Trakl's greatest poem, premiered in Philadelphia by Maren Montalbano; and Book of Hours, a major solo piano work, premiered by pianist Peter Orth in Este, Italy. Other performances included those by the Atma Trio, Dolce Suono Trio, Philmore Ensemble, and Network for New Music.
2010-2011 will feature repeat performances of Soglie, Serenate, Sfere, Helian, and Book of Hours, as well as the premiere of a new work for organist Mark Laubach, commissioned by the Harrisburg Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, at the Region III Convention in June 2011. During this season, Jeremy's second CD on the Albany Records label will be released, featuring baritone Jonathan Hays and pianist Peter Orth.
Past performances of note include those by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestra. He has been commissioned by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the American Composers Forum, Network for New Music, Market Square Concerts and Lois Lehrman Grass, and the Dolce Suono Chamber Music Concert Series. He has received awards and grants from BMI, ASCAP, and the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer. His chamber music has been premiered by such distinguished artists as the Parker Quartet, the Bachmann-Klibonoff-Fridman Trio, the Casals Quartet, flutist Mimi Stillman, and pianists Stephen Gosling and Matthew Bengtson. He has been the composer-in-residence with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival.
His first CD of chamber music, released in November 2008 on Albany Records, includes the world premiere recordings of his 25 with the Parker Quartet, Parabasis with flutist Mimi Stillman and pianist Charles Abramovic, and Suite for Brass with the Extension Ensemble. Peter Burwasser, reviewing this CD in Philadelphia Music Makers, wrote that “Gill writes with precision and care, intriguing imagination, and a fearless emotional depth”, and the American Record Guide remarked: “Jeremy Gill has imagination, and his music is well worth hearing, reading about, and investigating.”
Jeremy has held teaching positions at Messiah College, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Dickinson College, and Temple University, ultimately achieving the rank of Associate Professor. In 2009, he left academics to focus on his increasing conducting and composing opportunities, though he continues to teach composition privately. His scholarly activities continue apace, as well: in 2010 he completed an edition of A Dance of Polar Opposites, a theoretical-philosophical work written between 1955-2005 by his former teacher George Rochberg. Ever an advocate for new music and local composers, in 2007 Jeremy co-founded, with Philadelphia composer and entrepreneur Greg Wilder, philadelphiacamerata.com, a web portal devoted to the encouragement and dissemination of contemporary music and culture.