Jenece Gerber

UPCOMING:

Artist Biography

Dr. Jenece Gerber is a composer, singer, harpist, teacher of composition, voice, and Vocal Yoga, sound & energy healer, Usui Reiki Master Teacher, concert and event producer, and DJ (playing as DJ Quixotica). Jenece is the co-founder and Director of Artist Residencies and Development at Fireweed Earth Arts, an Earth-inspired arts, education, and wellness centre situated on the beautiful sunset coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She also offers private and group shamanic sound healing journeys, meditation circles, community explorations of consciousness sciences, guided forest bathing meditations, and group vocal improvisation/sounding circles.

Jenece regularly works with directors, choreographers, and performance artists to create interdisciplinary multimedia performance works and recordings. Prior to relocating to Nova Scotia, Canada, Jenece served as Composer-in-Residence, Associate Conductor, and Staff Singer for the Westminster Presbyterian Church choir of Buffalo, NY under the direction of Garrett Martin. In 2020 Jenece enthusiastically joined the Cape Breton Film Project Inc. as composer of the musical soundtrack for the short film JENNY.

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Diverse groups and soloists worldwide have commissioned and performed Jenece's music, such as:

• The New York Virtuoso Singers

• pianist Alison d’Amato

• soprano Tony Arnold

• cellist Jonathan Golove

• Clarence High School Chorale (Clarence, NY)

• Quince Vocal Ensemble

• Abraxas New Music Ensemble

• Season String Quartet

• Westminster Presbyterian Church choir

• The Barton Workshop

• Cleveland Chamber Symphony

• Holland/Weissman percussion/cello duo

• the harp/flute duo of Jocelyn Chang and Michael Leese

• La Catrina String Quartet

• itch contemporary ensemble of Brevard Music Festival

• University of Akron Woodwind Quintet

• University at Buffalo Woodwind Quintet

• Bowling Green State University Theatre Department

An accomplished performer, Jenece is skilled in singing classical, jazz, experimental/improvisatory, and contemporary art music. Some highlights of vocal performances include performances with: ICETank in New York City, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Westminster Church Choir and Schola, Harmonia Chamber Singers, Blossom Festival Chorus, Babel experimental vocal ensemble, Viriditas women’s chorus, Buffalo Improvisers Orchestra, Lawrence  “Butch” Morris, Beyond/In Western New York International Arts Exposition, Abraxas New Music Ensemble, Maelstrom Percussion Ensemble, Surround: Audio/Visual Multimedia, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo Infringement Festival, and in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

FORMAL EDUCATION and PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

In addition to extensive and ongoing self-directed study and research, Jenece has completed significant formal training:

• PhD in Music Composition from the State University of New York at Buffalo (2011)

• Master of Music degrees in Music Composition and  Vocal Performance from the University of Akron (2005, 2006)

• Bachelor of Arts degree in Ethnomusicology and Music Composition from Bowling Green State University (1995)

• Balinese Gamelan music with Pak Wayan Suweca on the island of Bali, Indonesia ( 1993)

• Vocal studies with: Tony Arnold, Deborah Kavasch, and Heather Lyle

• Music composition studies with:

            Marilyn Shrude, Burton Beerman, Donald Wilson, Wallace DePue, Jeffrey Stadelman, and David Felder

• Workshops and festivals:

            June in Buffalo Festival, 2008 (Buffalo, New York USA) - music composition studies

            Summer in Sombor program, 2007 (Sombor, Serbia) - music composition studies

            Brevard Music Center, 2005 (Brevard, North Carolina USA) - Program Fellow, composition and MIDI lab supervisor

            Weill Music Institute of Carnegie Hall (New York City, USA) - Dawn Upshaw, voice and John Harbison, composition

• Certified Vocal Yoga Teacher, June 2017 (Heather Lyle Vocal Yoga Method®, Santa Monica California, USA)

• Institute for Noetic Sciences, Community Group Facilitator Training, 2020

• Certified Usui Reiki Master Teacher, 2017 (Lisa Powers)

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PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION

International Alliance for Women in Music (Board of Directors 2006-2008)

ASCAP

New Music USA

American Composers Forum

Fractured Atlas

Cape Breton Film Inc.

"Very few in this world know to what extent phenomena can be produced by the power of the voice. If there is any real trace of miracle, of phenomena, of wonder, it is the voice." - Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Mysticism of Music, Sound and Word