Courtney Bryan
Assistant Professor of Music; Jazz Studies
Areas of Expertise
Biography
Courtney Bryan, a native of New Orleans, La, is “a pianist and composer of panoramic interests” (New York Times). Her music ranges from solo works to large ensembles in the new music and jazz idioms, film scores, and collaborations with dancers, visual artists, writers, and actors, and is in conversation with various musical genres, including jazz and other types of experimental music, as well as traditional gospel, spirituals, and hymns. Focusing on bridging the sacred and the secular, Bryan’s compositions explore human emotions through sound, confronting the challenge of notating the feeling of improvisation. Bryan has academic degrees from Oberlin Conservatory (BM), Rutgers University (MM), and a DMA in music composition from Columbia University of New York, with advisor George Lewis. She has been an instructor at Columbia University and Oberlin Conservatory, and a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department for African American Studies at Princeton University. Bryan is currently an Assistant Professor of Music in the Newcomb Department of Music at Tulane University, and the composer-in-residence with the Jacksonville Symphony. She has two independent recordings, “Quest for Freedom” (2007) and “This Little Light of Mine” (2010).
Education
Oberlin Conservatory
Rutgers University
Columbia University
Accomplishments
Rome Prize
2019
Herb Alpert Award in the Arts
2018
Links
Media Appearances
How the Jacksonville Symphony grew and changed in 2019
For the very first time, the Jacksonville Symphony debuted a commissioned work by its first composer-in-residence, Courtney Bryan. The 15-minute piece “Bridges,” inspired in part by Jacksonville itself, debuted on April 4.
'Rejoice! ' New Orleans' own pianist, composer Courtney Bryan premieres work to lead LPO concert
When Courtney Bryan was a child growing up in New Orleans, her parents brought her to performances by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. Little did she know that, more than 20 years later, the LPO would be premiering a work that the orchestra commissioned from her.
5 Questions to Pamela Z and Courtney Bryan (2019-20 Rome Prize Winners)
On April 9, 2019, the American Academy in Rome announced that composer Pamela Z was awarded the 2019-20 Frederic A. Juilliard/Walter Damrosch Rome Prize, and composer Courtney Bryan was awarded the 2019-20 Samuel Barber Rome Prize. According to the Academy, these “highly competitive fellowships support advanced independent work and research in the arts and humanities.” As these are two of our favorite musical artists working today, we had to contact them to find out more.
Symphony review: Written-for-Jacksonville piece fits nicely with classics
Nestled in the middle of the program was a world premier of “Bridges” by Courtney Bryan, the Jacksonville Symphony’s first Mary Carr Patton Composer-in-Residence. “Bridges” is a meditation on Jacksonville’s size, scope and cultural diversity, playing on the symbol of the structures that both divide and unite us. The work is more a tone poem than a traditional symphonic arrangement, pulling together strands of the different peoples and cultures that have shaped the Jacksonville area over the centuries, from the earliest native settlers to the present day. This ambitious feat was largely successful and evidenced a fresh and original compositional voice, particularly in the passage that pays homage to the civil rights anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” written here in Jacksonville. The performance was preceded by a very helpful exposition of the major themes of the work by the composer herself with conductor Courtney Lewis. Those who shudder at “contemporary” music as being gratingly dissonant and impenetrable will find this piece to be very approachable. This fruit of the Composer-in-Residence program is promising and the work left me eager to hear what the future will bring from this talented young composer.
New Musical Composition Inspired By Jacksonville Celebrates City’s Diversity
A new composition inspired by the city of Jacksonville, written by the Jacksonville Symphony’s first ever composer-in-residence, is making its world premiere this weekend.
“‘Bridges’ is a tribute to the city of Jacksonville, its diverse communities and the bridges that bring them together,” Courtney Bryan, the Jacksonville Symphony’s Mary Carr Patton Composer-in-Residence, wrote for The Florida Times-Union. But she stresses that “Bridges” isn’t the story of Jacksonville, it’s the story of her learning about the city.
