By Ear: étude for piano

These 7 Character Pieces were composed for Edoardo Turbil in the
summer of 2018. After composing Resonant Bells, a dark and brooding work for large orchestra, I wanted to write something that was entirely the opposite — something light and optimistic. I took inspiration in capturing the personalities of my colleagues in the DMA program at Juilliard. Each piece is dedicated to one of my friends, including the last piece which is dedicated to Edoardo himself.
The pieces try to capture the essence of the person, or in some cases, focus on incorporating music they enjoy writing or playing. All of the pieces are individualistic and could be played in any order or subset, provided that the Pezzo Capriccioso is performed last as it is the only piece that recycles material from some of the other pieces.

7 Character Pieces - 4. A Song Without Words

Performance by the Juilliard Orchestra And Jeff Milarsky from April 28th at Alice Tully Hall

Aft Agley

Jonathan Cziner (b. 1991) is an American composer based in New York City. His music combines colorful harmony and texture with nostalgic lyricism, creating a sound-world that ranges from dark and mysterious to vibrant. Drawing on a wide variety of inspirations, Jonathan’s writing engages the senses and the emotions, fully immersing listeners in the musical experience.  

A 2018 Charles Ives Scholarship recipient from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Jonathan's works have been performed in the United States and Europe by ensembles including the Minnesota Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and New Juilliard Ensemble.  Recent commissions include Once New for the Lyric Chamber Music Society, Fantasy Chorale for the American Guild of Organists, and Nebulous for the Dallas Harp Quartet, with performances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, and (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City.

His orchestral work Resonant Bells, premiered by David Robertson and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, was awarded the William Schuman Prize for most outstanding score at the BMI Student Composer Awards as well as the 2018 Palmer Dixon Prize, awarded to the most outstanding work composed at the Juilliard School. The piece was then selected by the Minnesota Orchestra for performance at the 2018-2019 Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute with Maestro Osmo Vänskä. Cziner’s most recent orchestral piece, flowers of fire, was written to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the World War I armistice and was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra with soprano Kathleen O’Mara and Maestro Jeffery Milarsky in February 2019.

Jonathan is currently the associate artistic director of the Charles Ives Concert Series, which focuses its programming on the music of Ives, as well as other past and present American composers. He served for two years as co-artistic director of Dynamic Music Festival, an annual concert series dedicated to premiering works of student composers attending universities in the New York City area. Equally dedicated to film scoring, he has worked with writer/director Nora Unkel on her 2015 film The Goblin Song, and has most recently scored her first feature film, A Nightmare Wakes in 2019. 

Cziner began formal composition training upon his acceptance to New York University, where he received a Bachelor of Music degree studying with Justin Dello Joio. He completed his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Robert Beaser, and is in the midst of his studies in Juilliard’s prestigious C.V. Starr doctoral program.

7 Character Pieces - 4. A Song Without Words

Jonathan Cziner

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