as published in PAN PIPES, Volume 95, Number 2

Jane Ellen*

Jane Ellen currently is working as a freelance composer and lecturer and as a web designer in Albuquerque, NM.She continues to present lectures on a variety of musical and religious studies topics, adding new ones to her repertoire every year. A frequent collaborator with producer Marty Ronish on scripts and music for the nationally broadcast educational children's radio show Boombox Classroom, she is also worksheet editor and webmaster for the program. In spring 2002, Jane Ellen and her music were featured on the show in episode 24, "Women Composers," with an excerpt from the piano quintet Passing, and episode 30, "Meet the Composers," including an interview by Ronish and another performance of Passing. Her latest commissions include Danse des Esprits, an organ piece for the American Guild of Organists District VII Regional Convention, scheduled to premiere in June 2003, and a five-movement work for flute and piano for flutist Anthony Sanchez, scheduled to premiere in spring 2004.  The Rick Creese video documentary The Man Who Lost the Civil War, which uses as its theme instrumental and vocal versions of Ellen's Glorieta, was accepted for the Southern Lens film festival. In September 2002, her German-band arrangement of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Edelweiss was released on the Die Polka-Schlingel CD Oompah to Swing. She received her 13th consecutive award from ASCAP in June 2002, and was listed in 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century (Cambridge International Biographical Centre); Who's Who in America, 2003; Who's Who of American Women, 23rd ed.; and Who's Who in the World, 2003 (Marquis). For more information, please see her website, www.JaneEllen.com, or contact her by E-mail at Jane@JaneEllen.com.

Premieres

In 2002, the ensemble Quodlibet, under the direction of Marilyn Alletzhauser, commissioned and premiered two humorous choral works by Ellen and lyricist Claire Roth (ASCAP):  Sweet Seduction, for SATB choir and piano, at the First Unitarian Church, April 21; and Dream Vacation, at St. Michael's and All Angels Episcopal Church, November 24.  Other 2002 premieres in Albuquerque included two anthems, Blessed Assurance and As the Father Passes By, with the Chancel Choir of Asbury United Methodist Church, under the direction of Lisa Baker, January 27; and The Creature Under My Bed, a programmatic piano piece with an accompanying limerick by Roth, performed by the composer at the Albuquerque Music Teachers Association (AMTA) Student Composer Concert, April 14, and at the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Composers Concert, May 5.

Performances

The Man Who Lost the Civil War (see above) was broadcast on 11 public television stations throughout the Southeastern states on October 3, 2002.  In 2002, works heard in Albuquerque included Green Hills of Eire, with pianist Mollie O'Meara for the Albuquerque Music Teachers Association, February 11; the three-movement suite Images of Rome, with an accompanying programmatic text by Roth, with pianist Susan Landers for the SAI American Music Month concert, February 16; and Hearts and Hands United, by Roth and Ellen, and Blessed Assurance, by Ellen, with the chancel choir, under Baker, for Pentecost Sunday services at Asbury United Methodist Church, May 19.

Publications

Elegy for the Children of Sarajevo, woodwind quintet; The Lonely Wanderer, six descriptive duets for young violinists; Per la Grazia di Dio (text by Roth), sacred Italian work for SATB choir; Phantom Lost (text by Ann Cragg), soprano, oboe, and piano; all by JEMS Publications, 2002.

Recordings

Glorieta; University of New Mexico Press The Man who Lost the Civil War video, March 2002.

*Sigma Alpha Iota Member

Further Information

• 2000-2001 American Composers Update
• 1999-2000 American Composers Update
• 1998-1999 American Composers Update
• 1997-1998 American Composers Update
• 1996-1997 American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online