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Biography

JEANNE MINAHAN

Poet Jeanne Minahan collaborates frequently with composers, including Grammy and Pulitzer-prize winning composer Jennifer Higdon, Rene Orth, Michael Djupstrom, Ya-Jhu Yang, and Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg. Jeanne’s poems have been featured in over 60 performances throughout the United States and in France. 

 

Recordings includes Any of Those Decembers, a Lyric Fest commission and collaboration with composer Benjamin Wenzelberg (Navona Records, 2024); Rene Orth’s Weave Me a Name,  commissioned by soprano Emily Albrink, on Force of Nature (Lexicon Classics, 2023); Michael Djupstrom’s Oars in Water, commissioned by Lake George Music Festival and Lyric Fest, on Brooklyn Art Song Society’s New Voices (Roven Records, 2015); and Jennifer Higdon’s The Singing Rooms, commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, recorded by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (TELARC, 2010). Recent concert highlights include the DC Vocal Arts and soprano Daniela Mack commission of At First, Now, Always, a poem cycle set by Rene Orth that premiered at the Kennedy Center; and the premier of “Any of Those Decembers,” in Philadelphia. Her poems have been performed by Lyric Fest, BASS, the NY Choral Society, DC Vocal Arts, Yale Glee Club, Pennsylvania GirlChoir, Rhodes Master Singers, Kantorei, and other ensembles. 

 

In addition to writing, offering readings and workshops, Jeanne enjoys teaching, painting, and continuing to learn. She was selected to participate in a poetry masterclass at Tŷ Newydd, Wales, with Carol Ann Duffy, former poet laureate of England, and Gillian Clarke, national poet of Wales. Jeanne graduated from Bucknell University and earned her MA as a Rotary International Graduate Fellow at the University College Cork, National University of Ireland, and her Ph.D. at Bryn Mawr College.  Jeanne Minahan (pen name of Jeanne Minahan McGinn) teaches creative writing and literature at Curtis Institute of Music, where she holds the Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams Jr. Chair in the Liberal Arts and is Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.

 

COMPLETE MUSICAL SETTINGS

 

The Next Stage (forthcoming)

Commission: Edward Babcock

Edward Babcock, Composer

Poem:

The Next Stage

 

At First, Now, Always (2024)                                                                               

Commission: Vocal Arts DC and Daniela Mack Shrader

Rene Orth, composer  

Premiere: Daniela Mack Shrader, mezzo soprano and Keuna Lee, piano

Poems:

Then, Now

Before you Arrived

After

Lullaby

The Middle of the Night

Departure Gate

Siempre Los Brazos Abiertos

 

Any of Those Decembers (2023)                                                                         

Cantata for SATB, quartet, flute, piano

Commission: Lyric Fest

Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg, composer 

Premiere: Laura Ward, piano, Ráyo Furuta, flute, Daedalus Quartet, Rebecca Myers, soprano, Devony Smith, mezzo soprano, Stephen Ng, tenor, Steven Eddy, baritone

Recording: Any of Those Decembers, Navona Records (2024)

Poems:

Listen My Love

Christmas Forecast

The Outside In

Winter, The Antidote

Wonder’s Wonder

The New York Train Arrives on Track Three

Any of Those Decembers

 

Weave Me Name (2023)                                                                                                    

for piano and soprano

Commisson: Emily Albrink 

Rene Orth, composer

Premiere: Catherine Kelly, piano, and Emily Albrink, soprano

Recording: Force of Nature, Lexicon Classics (2023)

Poems:

Weave Me Name

Your Wild Grandmother, One of Nine Children

The Return

Plaits

Your Turn

The Single Mother

Handiwork

 

Five Minahan Songs (2018)

for cello, piano, and baritone

Ya-Jhu Yang, composer

Premiere: Jean Kim, cello, Ya-Ju Yang, piano, and Dennis Chlemensky, baritone

Poems:

Then, Now

I Love you Like Ten Bears

The Note

Proof

Parade, Rain

 

Oars in Water (2017)                                                                   

for piano and soprano

Commission: Lyric Fest

Michael Djupstrom, composer

Laura Ward, piano, Elisa Sutherland, soprano

Poems:

Oars in Water

Seascape

All I Ever Think About

Elegy

 

Telegram (2014)                                                                                                     

song cycle for vocal ensemble/ Glee Club

Commission: Yale Glee Club (for composition)

Jennifer Higdon, composer

Jeffrey Douma, conductor, choral director

Poem:

Telegram: A Recently Discovered Correspondence

 

Last Letter (2014)                                       

for electronics and soprano

Rene Orth, composer              

Elena Perroni, soprano

Poem:

Last Letter

 

Oars in Water (2014)

for piano and tenor

Commission: Lake George Music Festival                                         

Michael Djupstrom, composer

Premiere: Michael Brofman, piano, Kyle Oliver, tenor

Recording: Brooklyn Art Song Society, New Voices, Roven Records (2015)           

Poem:

Oars in Water

                                                                                     

Minahan Songs (2013)                                           

for piano and mezzo soprano

Andrew Hsu, composer 

Premiere: Ashley Hsu, piano, and Lauren Eberwein, mezzo soprano

Poems:

In the Scriptorium                                          

Sorrow and All                                               

Reticence

Palm Reader                                       

That Summer                                                 

The Blue Dory            

 

Six Anti-Love Love Songs (2013)

for piano/celesta and soprano                                                                                    

Joseph Hallman, composer

Premiere: Amy Yang, piano/celesta, and Sarah Shafer, soprano

Poems:

Proof

Three Words, Two Thousand Times

The End of Love                                             

I Love You Like Ten Bears                            

Lover’s Complaint                                                      

Like Love 

                                                                        

Love’s Refrain (2011)                                                                                                        

A poem inspired by composer Louis Karchin’ “Ricercare” 

Premiere: Hirono Oko Violin and Jeanne Minahan, narrator

Commissioned by Network for New Music  

Poem:

Love’s Refrain

 

Rain Out at Sea (2011)

for solo violin and soprano

Ya-Jhu Yang, composer

Premiere: Becky Anderson, violin, and Sarah Shafer, soprano

Poems:

A Tale

Request

After Aristotle

He Thinks of His First Love

That Summer

What It Would Be: Three Guesses

 

After the Burial (2011)

for English horn and narrator                         

Joseph Hallman, composer                   

Premiere: Elizabeth Masoudnia (English horn) 

Commissioned by Network for New Music  

Poem:

After the Burial (double sonnet)

 

The Singing Rooms (2009)

for solo violin, orchestra, and chorus                                                                         

Jennifer Higdon, composer

Commissioned by Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Recording: Robert Spano, conductor, Jennifer Koh, violin, Atlanta Symphony and Chorus 

The Singing Rooms, TELARC, (2010).

Poems:                                                                                                                      

Three Windows Offer Two Versions of the Day

The Interpretation of Dreams

Things Aren’t Always

Confession

History Lesson

A Word With God

 

 

 
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