B&H Signs Courtney Bryan

Boosey & Hawkes is pleased to announce the signing of New Orleans-based composer Courtney Bryan to its roster.

Bryan's acclaimed compositions for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and voice have recently been commissioned by Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She is currently the composer-in-residence with Opera Philadelphia and Creative Partner with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

Bryan, who is also an acclaimed jazz pianist, composes music that draws on a rich diversity of traditions, including gospel and jazz. She states, "When I compose, the process involves combining my many influences, in my own voice, in everything I create."

Her work Gathering Song, recently premiered by bass-baritone soloist Ryan Speedo Green and the New York Philharmonic, was praised as "thrilling in its polish and expressive range" by the New York Times, which detailed: "There are fillips of Afro-Cuban rhythm and moments of thick orchestral modernism, as well as traces of stentorian, post-Minimalist American opera ... Though prismatic, it feels carefully woven as it touches on gospel and jazz traditions."

Other recent works include Blessed (2020) for Opera Philadelphia, a digital commission featuring footage from New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia woven together with improvising piano and voices; Carmen Jazz Suite (2020) for saxophonist Branford Marsalis and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, a reimagined and empowered portrait of Bizet's famous protagonist; and Syzygy (2019) for violinist Jennifer Koh and the Chicago Sinfonietta.

Bryan's new piano concerto, House of Pianos, salutes prominent pianists across many different styles and eras. It was premiered in a chamber version with the LA Phil New Music Group, led by Paolo Bortolameolli on February 7, and will be premiered in a full orchestra version on May 12-13 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Louis Langrée, featuring Bryan as piano soloist.

A 2020 United States Artists Fellow and 2019-2020 recipient of the Samuel Barber Rome Prize in Music Composition, Bryan earned degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Rutgers University, and completed her doctorate at Columbia University with advisor George Lewis. She completed postdoctoral studies in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. Bryan is currently the Albert and Linda Mintz Professor of Music at Newcomb College in the School of Liberal Arts at Tulane University.

Steven Lankenau, Senior Vice President of Boosey & Hawkes states: "Courtney is an American original. From the funereal blues of her Requiem to the stride piano in House of Pianos, the sounds of New Orleans-a city of rich, deep culture-is unmistakably present in her music. Boosey & Hawkes is proud to have her join our roster of distinguished composers."

Courtney Bryan states: "I am very honored to sign with Boosey & Hawkes. It is exciting to join such a prestigious roster of composers from the past and present, and I look forward to working with the team at Boosey & Hawkes to help expand the reach of my music and to care for the life of my works. I look forward to the journey together."