Jay Greenberg Composer

Born in 1991 in New Haven, Connecticut, American composer Jay Greenberg began playing the cello when he was three years old, and subsequently taught himself how to play the piano. His first formal lessons with Antony John in theory and composition began when he was seven; three years later he enrolled as a scholarship student in a special program at New York's Juilliard School of Music that included courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He took composition classes with Samuel Adler, music theory with Samuel Zyman and Kendall Briggs, and multiple courses in ear training and piano. Later, during the 2006-07 academic year, Greenberg took composition classes at the Yale School of Music as part of a high school independent study program.

Greenberg's work first became known in 2004, when he was featured on a 60 Minutes segment; numerous radio and newspaper interviews followed, garnering public attention for his first CD release with Sony Classical in 2006 and his Carnegie Hall debut in 2007.

Performances of Greenberg's works have included several composition concerts at the Juilliard School; the Overture to 9/11, with the Pittsburgh Symphony in August 2003; The Storm, with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in March 2004; Short Stories with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York in June 2005; The Hexalogue at the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival in July 2005; the Violin Concerto with Joshua Bell and the Orchestra of St. Luke's in October 2007; the Concerto for Piano Trio and Orchestra with the Eroica Trio and the East Texas Symphony Orchestra in April 2008; and Four Scenes with the Sejong Soloists at the Great Mountains Music Festival, South Korea in August 2008. Upcoming engagements include the US premiere of Four Scenes for String Quartet at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in December 2008, residency with the Minnesota Orchestra in March 2009, and a commission by the New York City Ballet for the 50^th anniversary of Lincoln center in 2010.

His first professionally recorded CD album, featuring the Symphony #5 and Quintet for Strings performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Juilliard String Quartet with cellist Darrett Adkins respectively, was released in August 2006 to great fanfare. To date Greenberg has composed over seventy significant works, including over a dozen piano sonatas, string quartets and other chamber music, six symphonies, and concerti for the piano, piano trio, violin, viola, clarinet, tenor saxophone and percussion. Greenberg’s scores are available through G. Schirmer publishing

Date Last Edited: 18th November 2008