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About Jennifer performance - composition - teaching Havana, Cuba 2018: Jennifer brought the very first two toy pianos to the island of Cuba, where they are now inspiring new generations of musicians! |
"I love how rebellious you are:
it's exactly what classical music needs."
- Nikhil Sardana, editor of India's Serenade Magazine
it's exactly what classical music needs."
- Nikhil Sardana, editor of India's Serenade Magazine
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Jennifer Wright, M.M., B.M. has been described as “a real force of nature” (FearNoMusic artistic director Kenji Bunch), "One of the coolest and most interesting music creators on the scene!" (new music icon Kathleen Supove), and "[One] of [Cascadia Composers’] most creative producer/composers" (Oregon ArtsWatch).
She is a pianist, multi-faceted performer, composer, educator, multidisciplinary artist, event producer, and culture-maker. Jennifer graduated summa cum laude from the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT with a Bachelor of Music in piano performance (along with a Bachelor of Arts in German Studies) and studied for two years at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (Stuttgart Music Conservatory) and Universität Stuttgart in Germany. She was awarded several Distinctions for her Masters Degree achievements in performance and musicological research at the Trinity College of Music in London, England in the Historically Informed Piano Performance degree program. Her studies have also included extensive training in piano pedagogy, jazz and popular genres, period keyboard instruments, solo and group voice, dramatic/musical theater, and composition. In addition to trailblazing a vibrant performing and producing career, Jennifer teaches piano at Reed College, at Portland State University College of the Arts, and in her award-winning private studio in Portland, Oregon. |
Performance
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Jennifer performs regularly as a solo and collaborative artist and has presented numerous recitals, lectures, master classes, and workshops in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Cuba. Her wide-ranging repertoire ranges from the Renaissance to the avant-garde, with a strong focus on the unique demands of her own work.
Actively seeking adventurous contexts for art, Jennifer has performed in venues as diverse as the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, smoky underground jazz cafes in Poland, the massive Brutalist concrete fountains of Lawrence Halprin, swallow-inhabited stone churches in the Finnish countryside, cavernous urban and industrial warehouses, hidden botanical gardens, a volcanic caldera, a historic ironworks foundry, the lobster-fishing piers of downeast Maine, and a massive peanut oil factory-turned performance art space in Havana, Cuba.
Actively seeking adventurous contexts for art, Jennifer has performed in venues as diverse as the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, smoky underground jazz cafes in Poland, the massive Brutalist concrete fountains of Lawrence Halprin, swallow-inhabited stone churches in the Finnish countryside, cavernous urban and industrial warehouses, hidden botanical gardens, a volcanic caldera, a historic ironworks foundry, the lobster-fishing piers of downeast Maine, and a massive peanut oil factory-turned performance art space in Havana, Cuba.
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Between her professional activities and teaching studio, Jennifer has spearheaded over 130 performance events. She specializes in orchestrating multimedia/multidisciplinary collaborative happenings that create unforgettable, immersive and interactive cultural experiences. She enjoys a challenge: you may have heard her performing wrapped in glowing LED lights, accompanying screenings of Charlie Chaplin films, impersonating historical figures such as Agathe Backer-Grondahl, Marie Antoinette, and Queen Elizabeth I in period attire, wearing sonic body armor, or flirting with frostbite during a 3-hour non-stop outdoor musical peace vigil in the middle of winter.
Jennifer's work has been supported by multiple grants and support from the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC), the Oregon Arts Commission, the Oregon Community Foundation, The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), The Oregon Music Teachers Association Nellie Tholen Fund, Cascadia Composers, the Halprin Landscape Conservancy, Zidell Yards, The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education (OJMHE), Reed College's Cooley Gallery, March Music Moderne (MMM), and funding from a variety of generous private sponsors and crowd-source venues.
Jennifer's work has been supported by multiple grants and support from the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC), the Oregon Arts Commission, the Oregon Community Foundation, The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), The Oregon Music Teachers Association Nellie Tholen Fund, Cascadia Composers, the Halprin Landscape Conservancy, Zidell Yards, The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education (OJMHE), Reed College's Cooley Gallery, March Music Moderne (MMM), and funding from a variety of generous private sponsors and crowd-source venues.
Performing "I Sing an Unending Song of Radical Beauty" with Daniel Brugh in the Keller Fountain at the Portland, Oregon 2017 Winter Light Festival
Composition
Jennifer’s works fuse personal, universal, experimental, and visceral modes of storytelling into a unique and ever-evolving artistic alchemy bent on exploring the human condition. Major areas of endeavor include (but are in no way limited to) creating experimental instruments and sound sculptures, multi-capacity theatrical physical performance, trash instruments, sound-capable wearables, social commentary and satire, climate change-based work, found sound, interactive art-making, and site-specific artistic responses. She thrives on vibrant interdisciplinary collaborations.
Jennifer has created individual works, collaborations, and major productions with ProLab Dance, the Venerable Showers of Beauty Gamelan Orchestra, Ensemble Interactivo de La Habana, creative coder/visual artist Nanda D’Agostino, krump dancer Snubb, Agnieszka Laska Dancers, filmmaker Takafumi Uehara, aerialist Jordie Campbell, sculptor Melita Westerlund, poet/dancer Akela Jaffi, mixed media artists Bonnie Meltzer, Ree Nancarrow, and Susan Campbell, Heidi Duckler Dance NW, the 20 Digitus piano duo, and many others.
Much of her work focuses around alternative keyed and percussion instruments such as typewriters, toy pianos, electrified harpsichords, destroyed and dismantled pianos, hand-built large-scale acoustic sound machines, and her one-of-a-kind “Skeleton Piano”, an upright piano that she deconstructed and plays from the inside out to create wild new worlds of sound. (More info available at skeletonpiano.com)
Jennifer has created a fleet of experimental “Post-Apocalyptic Instruments”, a wild range of large-scale music machines made of trash and consumer debris that explore realities of climate change and unsustainable human wastefulness. They include the "Chimaera", an assemblage of altered toy piano remnants and metal objects that creates other-worldly acoustic atmospheres; "The Phoenix", a wearable, analog percussion suit shaped like the mythical bird; and "The Egg", a golden 50-gallon oil drum nestled within a scrap-wood nest, and "The Hydra", a 6-foot-long harp made from a driftwood tree. In 2023-24, she created "The Glass Piano" for the exhibit "The Burned Piano Project" at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education in Portland, OR, an instrument that combined the remains of a grand piano incinerated in an anti-semitic hate crime with a new resonant body and borosilicate glass sounding rods.
From 2022, Jennifer has been an Artist in Residence at Zidell Shipyards in Portland, OR. She co-produced and composing the music for the ground-breaking, multimedia “Break to Build” shows and films (in VR, AR, and 360 dome formats) in collaboration with ProLab Dance, which feature multiple site-specific sound installations that she constructed from over two tons of industrial metal debris, including the Hanging Gamelan, Chain Wall, and Long Strings.
Jennifer has created individual works, collaborations, and major productions with ProLab Dance, the Venerable Showers of Beauty Gamelan Orchestra, Ensemble Interactivo de La Habana, creative coder/visual artist Nanda D’Agostino, krump dancer Snubb, Agnieszka Laska Dancers, filmmaker Takafumi Uehara, aerialist Jordie Campbell, sculptor Melita Westerlund, poet/dancer Akela Jaffi, mixed media artists Bonnie Meltzer, Ree Nancarrow, and Susan Campbell, Heidi Duckler Dance NW, the 20 Digitus piano duo, and many others.
Much of her work focuses around alternative keyed and percussion instruments such as typewriters, toy pianos, electrified harpsichords, destroyed and dismantled pianos, hand-built large-scale acoustic sound machines, and her one-of-a-kind “Skeleton Piano”, an upright piano that she deconstructed and plays from the inside out to create wild new worlds of sound. (More info available at skeletonpiano.com)
Jennifer has created a fleet of experimental “Post-Apocalyptic Instruments”, a wild range of large-scale music machines made of trash and consumer debris that explore realities of climate change and unsustainable human wastefulness. They include the "Chimaera", an assemblage of altered toy piano remnants and metal objects that creates other-worldly acoustic atmospheres; "The Phoenix", a wearable, analog percussion suit shaped like the mythical bird; and "The Egg", a golden 50-gallon oil drum nestled within a scrap-wood nest, and "The Hydra", a 6-foot-long harp made from a driftwood tree. In 2023-24, she created "The Glass Piano" for the exhibit "The Burned Piano Project" at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education in Portland, OR, an instrument that combined the remains of a grand piano incinerated in an anti-semitic hate crime with a new resonant body and borosilicate glass sounding rods.
From 2022, Jennifer has been an Artist in Residence at Zidell Shipyards in Portland, OR. She co-produced and composing the music for the ground-breaking, multimedia “Break to Build” shows and films (in VR, AR, and 360 dome formats) in collaboration with ProLab Dance, which feature multiple site-specific sound installations that she constructed from over two tons of industrial metal debris, including the Hanging Gamelan, Chain Wall, and Long Strings.
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Her compositions have been performed at the 29th and 31st Annual Festival de La Habana de Música Contemporánea in Cuba (as part of the ongoing USA/Cuba composer exchange she helped orchestrate in 2016, the first such collaborative exchange since the Cuban revolution), the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival (by members of the Corvus New Music Ensemble), FearNoMusic's "Justice (Just Us)" concert season, the 2020 and 2023 New Music Gathering festivals, The Astoria Music Festival, Portland International Piano Festival, the Sound and Fury concert series in Los Angeles, Portland’s March Music Moderne festival, Crazy Jane Composers concerts, Portland's Art for the Ears Series, Cascadia Composers concerts, as a guest artist at the Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble (EDME) 2023 New Music Festival, on KBOO, XRAY, KTCB and AllClassical radio, on "Portland Today" and "Hello Rose City" segments on KGW TV, and on Cuban National TV.
Notable performers include FearNoMusic, Portland's Resonance Ensemble under the direction of Katherine FitzGibbon, pianist Kathleen Supové of "Exploding Piano" fame, the Free Marz String Trio, 20 Digitus Piano Duo, and Ensemble Interactivo de La Habana.
Jennifer is a member of ASCAP performing rights organization as a writer & publisher.
Notable performers include FearNoMusic, Portland's Resonance Ensemble under the direction of Katherine FitzGibbon, pianist Kathleen Supové of "Exploding Piano" fame, the Free Marz String Trio, 20 Digitus Piano Duo, and Ensemble Interactivo de La Habana.
Jennifer is a member of ASCAP performing rights organization as a writer & publisher.
Teaching & Pedagogy
Jennifer has taught piano full-time since 1998, at arts institutions such as The Hartt School Community Division in Hartford, CT (rated one of the top three university-affiliated arts schools in the United States), in music camps and workshops, and in private studios in Connecticut, London, England, and her present home in Portland, Oregon. She joined the Reed College music department as a studio piano instructor in 2021 and joined the piano faculty of Portland State University College of the Arts in 2023.
Jennifer is a highly creative and innovative teacher who is passionate about promoting joy and excellence in music making. Her teaching approach combines healthy technique, a curriculum custom-tailored for each individual, and a wide range of studio performances, group classes, and community outreach events. These combine with theoretical, historical, and contextual understanding to achieve a truly remarkable musical education that celebrates each student's unique personality and musical journey.
Jennifer frequently adjudicates piano and composition festivals for the Oregon Federation of Music Clubs and Oregon Music Teachers Association. She enjoys presenting workshops on pedagogy, performance, optimal learning, overcoming performing anxiety, and composition for performers, teachers, and students of all ages. She has had articles published in Oregon ArtsWatch, Oregon Musician, and OMTA Music News.
Jennifer is a highly creative and innovative teacher who is passionate about promoting joy and excellence in music making. Her teaching approach combines healthy technique, a curriculum custom-tailored for each individual, and a wide range of studio performances, group classes, and community outreach events. These combine with theoretical, historical, and contextual understanding to achieve a truly remarkable musical education that celebrates each student's unique personality and musical journey.
Jennifer frequently adjudicates piano and composition festivals for the Oregon Federation of Music Clubs and Oregon Music Teachers Association. She enjoys presenting workshops on pedagogy, performance, optimal learning, overcoming performing anxiety, and composition for performers, teachers, and students of all ages. She has had articles published in Oregon ArtsWatch, Oregon Musician, and OMTA Music News.
A sampling of some of Jennifer's private piano studio's adventurous projects!
For more info, visit the Studio Gallery page.
For more info, visit the Studio Gallery page.
A full costume concert celebrating the music of Star Wars, complete with skits, a 14-piano rendition of the Star Wars Main Theme, and a 5-foot-diameter Death Star pinata.
We wrote and presented a 2-hour puppet show with non-stop live piano accompaniment: sets, scenery, puppets, funny voices, and all!
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Non-stop live piano accompaniment to a classic Charlie Chaplin silent film.
Students researched the technical, musical and social history of the harpsichord and presented a full evening of entertainment dressed in full period regalia, powdered wigs and all!
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We wrote, filmed and scored a feature-length science fiction movie from scratch and screened it in Portland's historic Clinton Street movie theater - for real!
To support their performances of unusual 20th century music, students dismantled an entire upright piano and made a gallery of 27 playable sound sculptures from the parts!
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Professional Affiliations
Jennifer currently serves as a board member and collaborator with the award-winning, site-specific dance company ProLab Dance.
She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Cascadia Composers (a chapter of the National Association of Composers, USA [NACUSA]) and Heidi Duckler Dance Northwest.
She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Cascadia Composers (a chapter of the National Association of Composers, USA [NACUSA]) and Heidi Duckler Dance Northwest.
Present
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
National Association of Composers/U.S.A. (NACUSA)
Cascadia Composers (Pacific NW USA chapter of NACUSA)
Music Teachers’ National Association (MTNA)
Oregon Music Teachers’ Association (OMTA)
ProLab Dance
Reed College
Portland State University College of the Arts
Past
European Piano Teachers’ Association (U.K.)
Connecticut State Music Teachers’ Association (CSMTA)
Suzuki Association of the Americas
Kindermusik International
Hartt School Community Division
Crazy Jane Composers
Heidi Duckler Dance NW
Give me a shout!
jenniferawright (at) yahoo.com | 503-475-2406 | 3656 SE Morrison Street, Portland, OR 97214
ASCAP writer / publisher
Check out skeletonpiano.com to see what I've been up to with my Skeleton Piano!
jenniferawright (at) yahoo.com | 503-475-2406 | 3656 SE Morrison Street, Portland, OR 97214
ASCAP writer / publisher
Check out skeletonpiano.com to see what I've been up to with my Skeleton Piano!