top of page
Jenece Star White_edited_edited_edited_edited_edited.png

Biography

in depth

Jenece is a composer, singer, harpist, teacher of composition, voice, and Vocal Yoga, student practitioner of Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine, sound & energy healer, Usui Reiki Master Teacher, and concert and event producer.

 

She also offers private and group shamanic sound healing journeys, meditation circles, community explorations of consciousness sciences, guided forest bathing meditations, group vocal improvisation/sounding circles, and she offers Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments as a student practitioner at the Canadian College of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine in Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada.

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.

​

In 2018 Jenece co-founded Fireweed Earth Arts, an Earth-inspired arts, education, and wellness centre situated on the beautiful sunset coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, where she served as Director of Development and Artist Residencies.

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

  • The New York Virtuoso Singers

  • Cape Breton Film, Inc.

  • 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

  • Diploma of Acupuncture student, Canadian College of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine

(anticipated graduation date December 2022)

Selected Past Musical Performances, Presentations,Publications, and Workshops

  • Forest Song Meditation Workshop  – somatic Earth-awareness forest bathing meditation workshop, Nova Scotia, Canada Aug 2020

  • Ecstatic Dance Cape Breton – host and DJ for Monthly Ecstatic Dance gatherings in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia 2020-21

  • Vocal Yoga weekend workshop – Intercambiamos, Puerto Jiménez Costa Rica – November 2019

  • Vocal Yoga day workshop – Yoga Parkside, Buffalo NY USA – March 2019

  • Vocal Yoga 6-week workshop – Yoga Parkside, Buffalo NY USA – September-October 2018

  • Introductory Vocal Yoga workshop – Karpeles Manuscript Library & Museum, Buffalo NY USA – Aug 2017

  • Cosmic Raga – meditative experimental harp/sarangi duo of Jenece Gerber and Ravi Padmanabha, Sewing Souls Studio, Buffalo NY USA, August 2017

  • Cosmic Raga – meditative experimental harp/sarangi duo of Jenece Gerber and Ravi Padmanabha, Karpeles Manuscript Library & Museum North, Buffalo NY USA – August 2017

  • Introductory Vocal Yoga workshop – El Museo, Buffalo NY USA – July 2017

  • Introductory Vocal Yoga workshop – Hickory Sanctuary, Buffalo NY USA – July 2017

  • 10x5x2 – Multimedia improvisatory performance including Jenece Gerber, voice & harp, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo NY USA – March 2017

  • Sound Meditation Journey – Jenece Gerber, voice & harp, Yoga Parkside, Buffalo NY USA – July 2016

  • Live Vibe – live harp music to accompany Yin Yoga, Soma Cura Wellness Center, Grand Island NY USA – July 2016

  • Elemental – Sound & Movement Meditation designed and presented by Jenece Gerber, Dreamland Studio & Gallery, Buffalo NY USA – July 2016

  • Elemental – Sound & Movement Meditation designed and presented by Jenece Gerber, with three additional performers, Center for Art & Spirit, Asheville NC USA – June 2016

  • Vocal Yoga 6-week workshop – Yoga Parkside, Buffalo NY USA – September-October 2015

  • An Evening of Sacred Ecstatic Arts—community concert of sacred music and dance organized and presented by Jenece Gerber, St. John’s Grace Episcopal Church, Buffalo NY USA – May 2015

  • guest critic—Buffalo State College Architecture and Design review; critiquing student designs for opera houses, 2008

  • paper presentation: “Against a Science of Signs: La voix humaine”, on semiology vis-à-vis Francis Poulenc’s setting of Jean Cocteau’s      La voix humaine. University of Toronto Graduate Student Conference, 2008

  • Worlds Unseen—community concert of new chamber works organized, publicized and presented by Jenece Gerber at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo NY USA – April 2006

  • review of contemporary music recording published in the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music, volume 12, no. 2

  • blogger for Sequenza21 on Summer at Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, 2005

  • online reviewer of World Music recordings for About, Inc (about.com), 2000-01

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

Jenece Star White_edited_edited.png

© 2025 JENECE GERBER.

Logo design by Deanna Clohessy.

bottom of page