Performed by Toledo Symphony Chamber Musicians on February 1, 2026

Voodoo Dolls 
Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981) 

Hailed by annotator David Levy as “one of the most vital voices of her generation,” composer, violinist, and music educator Jessie Montgomery attended the Third Street Music School Settlement, after which she earned an undergraduate degree in violin performance from Juilliard and a graduate degree in composition for film and multimedia from New York University. 

Montgomery began composing in her teens but grew more serious about it in her twenties. Thanks to her parents and the musical and cultural environment in which she was raised, she was, in her own words, “constantly surrounded by all different kinds of music.” She produced her album Strum in 2008, and it combines classical elements with spirituals, R&B, jazz, hip-hop, folk music, improvisation, and poetic elements. Strum was released by Azica Records in 2015. 

Montgomery has performed as a member of the Providence and Catalyst String Quartets, and is the recipient of several composer fellowships, including from the Joyce Foundation, the Sorel Organization, and the Sphinx Organization. 

Montgomery is very concerned with issues of history, patriotism, race, identity, and belonging. She says, “My privilege [to be able to compose and make art] comes from my parents having fought through the Civil Rights movement. My mom was very active ... and she was in many of the protests, and my dad, just being a rogue artist, that’s an act of protest in itself – but it’s just this idea that I came from that period, the political changes that happened during that time, so that’s what it means to me, to be an American.” 

Originally written for dancers, Montgomery’s Voodoo Dolls was commissioned and choreographed by the JUMP! Dance Company of Rhode Island in 2008. Montgomery explains, “The choreography was a suite of dances, each one representing a different traditional children’s doll: Russian dolls, marionettes, rag dolls, Barbie, voodoo dolls … The piece is influenced by West African drumming patterns and lyrical chant motives, all of which feature highlights of improvisation within the ensemble.” 

The 19th Amendment for piano, clarinet, and violin 
Quinn Mason (b. 1996) 

Texas-based composer and conductor Quinn Mason began composing at the age of ten after learning to play piano and cello in school and, according to Texas Monthly, is “one of the most sought-after young composers in the country.” 

Mason’s ballet, The 19th Amendment, was commissioned by choreographer Katie Puder and the Avant Chamber Ballet in 2019 and was composed in autumn that year. The topic of the 19th Amendment as the subject of this piece was first suggested to Mason by Puder, and Mason quickly became interested in the process of trying to capture a historical event in a piece of music. In a 2021 interview with George Nickson of ensembleNEWSRQ, Mason says, “The subject of getting women the right to vote and especially the struggle it took, and we’re still struggling with it here in the 21st century with what’s going on politically, not only in the United States. It’s a right that isn’t guaranteed and can easily be taken away.” 

Mason’s ballet doesn’t have a story and is not programmatic in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s episodic. Puder wanted each instrument to have a role in the narrative, so each has a unique voice and contributes something to the story, moving between narrative roles and more conversational material.  

Mason continues, “My goal with the composition was to not only depict the struggle of obtaining the right to vote, but to contemplate on the effect that passing the 19th Amendment has had on our current generation and, in the words of the choreographer herself, ‘whether that right will last as we ponder if it will ever be taken away.’”  

Mason’s The 19th Amendment was premiered by the MAKE trio on February 14, 2020.  

Fugue in G minor for string trio 
Irene Britton Smith (1907–1999)  

Born in Chicago, Irene Britton Smith knew early in her life that she wanted to be a musician. Unfortunately, her family could not afford the classes she needed, and so she trained as a schoolteacher instead. As an adult, she was able to attend the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago part-time, and eventually she earned an undergraduate degree in music. She played violin, piano, and organ, and performed regularly in church. After the American Conservatory, she went on to the Juilliard for a time before completing her Master of Music at DePaul University. She then traveled to Paris to study with the internationally renowned composition teacher, Nadia Boulanger. After returning to Chicago, Smith went back to teaching reading in the public school system for the next four decades.  

As a composer, she considered herself a lifelong student, and strongly resisted being labeled as a “real,” “black,” or “female” composer, insisting that she wanted to write music for its own sake. Her work is distinctive and elegant, in the French neoclassical style, with transparent clear textures.  

Smith composed her Fugue in G Minor for string trio in 1938. While some call it a study piece or exercise (especially given her attitude toward her work), the Fugue has a lot of emotional depth and shows Smith’s impressive command of counterpoint.   

Smith did not write many works; she stopped composing by 1962. By 1978 she retired from teaching but continued to be involved in the arts by serving as a docent for the Chicago Symphony’s youth concerts – something she did until the end of her life. 

Sermon for Saints and Sinners 
Jeff Scott (b. 1967) 

French hornist, composer, and educator Jeff Scott is currently Associate Professor of horn at the Oberlin Conservatory and a member of the Imani Winds. He has a truly impressive resume, including degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and SUNY Stonybrook, membership in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Dance Theater of Harlem orchestras, and performances with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under Wynton Marsalis as well as in various Broadway shows, on movie soundtracks, and in backing ensembles.  

About his work as a composer Scott writes, “I create works that I call ‘Urban Classical Music.’ It’s rooted in European traditions and informed by my African American culture. It is also unapologetically influenced by the cultural experiences of my diverse, urban environment upbringing. My mission is to broaden the scope of American music theory and composition, with the intention of introducing performers, teachers, students, and audiences to the richness and value of our very own, American music.” 

Scott’s Sermon for Saints and Sinners for brass quintet and narrator was commissioned by the Atlantic Brass Quintet in 2021. Scott notes, “Sermon for Saints and Sinners is part of a multiwork exploration into my past. Somewhat like music therapy through composition. It chronicles a poignant period in my young life as I navigated through the ’80s drug error and the effects it had on my stepfather and by association.... my mother and me. Other works in this grouping are Winter 1983 for symphony orchestra, Just Us for bassoon and piano, Blues for Buddy for string quartet, The World According to Aunt Shug for horn and trombone, and Trail of Tears for horn and piano.” He adds, “[It] was a personal and burdensome story, waiting to be discarded from my shoulders for more than 40 years.”  

Sermon for Saints and Sinners includes text by the poet A. B. Spellman based on real stories. Scott writes, “I thank you A. B. for finding just the right words to guide me to a place where I am more often releasing the burden and less reliving it.”  

Scott describes the setting: “The scene is Far Rockaway, Queens in NYC. It’s 1978, at the beginning of the crack-cocaine era. My patriarch has fallen victim.... My Stepfather: Veryl ‘Farouk’ Walker. Farouk was the name he was given by his ‘teacher’ who would visit our home to give ‘lessons’ in the ’70s as he was ‘studying’ the Muslim faith. Farouk was charismatic, extremely muscular, tall and handsome, and had a bald head, which added to his presence in an era (the ’70s) when most African Americans sported afros. 

“He worked in an electronics factory in Queens, NY.
He was an excellent paddle ball player.
He was abusive verbally and physically.”