Jake Runestad, composer

"Cello Songs." Jake Runestad, composer. Todd Boss, poet. Performed by St. Charles Singers. Jeff Hunt, conductor. Cameron Grimes, cello. Stephen Uhl, piano. More info: http://jakerunestad.com/store/cello-songs

On my living room wall, I have a letterpress broadside of the poem “Cello” by Dorianne Laux. Its central image is a dead tree, fallen into the arms of a living one. As years pass, it “…rubs its fallen body / against the living, building / its dead music / making its raw mark, / wearing the tough bough down / as it moans and bends, the deep / rosined bow sound of the living / shouldering the dead.”

Todd Boss, a frequent collaborator of mine, has created a new, four-movement text inspired by Dorianne’s poem. Intended as love songs, the texts use the seasons as a structure to examine how the cello might come to mean very different things to us as we progress through the beauty and complexity of our lives.

Cello Songs (choir, cello, piano)

"Alleluia" by Jake Runestad. Performed by the Salt Lake Vocal Artists at the 2014 Western ACDA Division Conference. Purchase scores: http://jakerunestad.com/store/alleluia

Alleluia (SATB choir)

Nyon Nyon

"Let My Love Be Heard" by Jake Runestad. Recorded by the Bob Cole Chamber Choir at Cal State Long Beach. Jonathan Talberg, conductor. More info: jakerunestad.com/store/let-my-love-be-heard

Let My Love Be Heard (SATB choir) by Jake Runestad

"Come to the Woods" by Jake Runestad. Performed by the Georgia State University Singers. Deanna Joseph, conductor. Purchase scores: jakerunestad.com/store/come-to-the-woods

Famed Scottish-American naturalist and conservationist John Muir had a giddy, child-like excitement for the natural world. After a youth spent in Scotland and Wisconsin, he found himself transformed by his first visit, around age 30, to California’s Yosemite Valley. With the vast mountainous landscape and the surreal size of the sequoia and redwood trees, these woods captured him and became his playground, his classroom, and his sanctuary.

Muir was an avid “saunterer” and a profound thinker who would venture into the woods for days with a bit of food and a book of Emerson poetry in hand. Inspired by the beauty of the wilderness and a lifelong love for words, Muir penned a vast collection of eloquent and vivid writings. In one quintessentially Muirian account, he is so fascinated by a storm that he climbs up a tall Douglas Fir to experience it more intensely.

“Come to the Woods” explores Muir’s inspirations and the transporting peace found in the natural world. Using a collage of fragments from Muir’s writings, the work ventures from the boisterous joy of a “glorious day,” to the quiet whispering of wind, to the rejuvenating power of a storm, to the calming “amber light” when the clouds begin to clear. I hope it captures the self-discovery and sustenance one encounters while exploring the outdoors and its vital importance in our lives. As Muir writes, “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

Come To The Woods (SATB & piano, Georgia State)

"Rivers of Air" by Jake Runestad. Performed live by the Capital University Symphonic Winds. Dr. Jeffrey Gershman, conductor. More info: jakerunestad.com/store/rivers-of-air

Capital University

Rivers of Air (wind ensemble)

Official Website:

http://jakerunestad.com


About Jake:

Award-winning composer Jake Runestad (b. 1986) is noted for his versatility and wide range of expressive capabilities with music driven by soaring melodies, driving rhythms, and lush textures. Considered “highly imaginative…with big ideas” (Baltimore Sun) and “stirring and uplifting” (Miami Herald), Jake has received commissions and performances from leading ensembles such as Seraphic Fire, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, VocalEssence, the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, Cantus (Minnesota), and the Rockford Symphony Orchestra.

Jake Runestad holds a Master’s degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts. He has also studied extensively with acclaimed composer Libby Larsen. Mr. Runestad currently lives in Minneapolis, MN and his music is published by Boosey & Hawkes and JR Music. Find out more at jakerunestad.com

Nyon Nyon

First Step Records