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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