“[This] American composer knows the importance of embracing the past while also going his own way. … [In] Beck’s forceful and expressive sound world … the writing is concise in structure and generous in tonal language, savouring both the dramatic and the poetic.”
– Donald Rosenberg (Gramophone)
Jeremy was a first-prize winner in the 2021 The King’s Singers New Music Prize; the world premiere of his winning choral composition Invitation to Love was given that year at Washington National Cathedral. His music has been presented by New York City Opera, ETHEL, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the Apollo Chorus of Chicago, American Composers Orchestra, Center for Contemporary Opera, and the Louisville Orchestra, among others. Recordings of Jeremy’s orchestral, chamber, and vocal music are available on the neuma, Acis, innova, and Ablaze labels.
“I compose music that is direct: music that unfolds in a fresh tonal dialect and propelled by a contemporary rhythmic profile, while still derived from historical Western practice. It is music where mystery and design are equally embraced.”
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REQUIEM (Acis APL54131)
for mixed chorus and string orchestra – new 2024 release!
“…an exquisite first recording…[of] a piece of tranquil and urgent beauty…Beck often goes against the grain, finding fresh means to convey the weighty or hopeful messages, and turning to lyricism rather than overt drama…Beck achieves an intimate portrait of mourning at once comforting and fervent.”
– Donald Rosenberg, Gramophone
“5 Albums Worth Your Listen: …a dynamic yet intimate setting…combining harmonically alluring melodies with dissonances and rhythmic drive…[with] intriguing contrapuntal techniques…”
– The Classical Review.com
One sometimes reaches a point as a composer when the music one imagines suggests a larger form, something of greater artistic consequence. Taking my cue more from earlier composers, as my piece unfolded, I was also conscious of the sacred choral music of Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Choir, a twentieth-century choral masterpiece. These two composers somehow found modern musical languages that were purposefully subdued, yet ever powerful and moving in their seeming restraint. In light of all of this history, I found the path to my own Requiem. It is without dedication, but is of its time.
see a performance
Invitation to Love for SSA a cappella
“Invitation to Love” won First Prize in Category 3 of The King’s Singers New Music Prize. This is the world premiere given 28 February 2021 by Cathedra, directed by Michael McCarthy, at Washington National Cathedral.