Jeffrey Brooks

Jeffrey Brooks is an American composer living in Minneapolis. He began composing at an early age, eventually going on to study at Tanglewood and Yale University, where he earned masters and doctorate degrees. His primary teachers include Louis Andriessen, Gilbert Amy and Martin Bresnick. In 1996, Brooks composed the popular work, „Dreadnought“, for wind ensemble, which has been performed by hundreds of bands throughout the world. He has composed several other large-scale works for wind ensemble, including „Providence“, a double concerto for trumpet and trombone, and the „John Henry Symphony“, which was featured in a one-hour special on Tennessee Public Television in 2012. Besides his works for bands, Brooks has a considerable body of work composed for mixed chamber ensembles. He has been commissioned by Bang on a Can All Stars, Alarm Will Sound, and The Michael Gordon Philharmonic (New York), Zeitgeist, Rose Ensemble and the Bakkan Trio (Minneapolis), California Ear Unit (Los Angeles), Present Music (Milwaukee), Relache (Philadelphia), Pianoduo and Icebreaker Ensemble (Amsterdam), and 5th Species (Toronto). In 2013, Zeitgeist presented a retrospective of works covering his last twenty years of work. Brooks was the Artistic Director of the American Composers Forum from 1990 to 1995. He was the creator and Artistic Director of The Composers Voice, a radio program that aired on National Public Radio from 1992 to 1996. The program received the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Silver Award in 1995 and ASCAP’s Deems Taylor Award in 1995. In 2013, Brooks composed „After the Treewatcher“, which became the first of three large-scale works for amplified chamber orchestra that were premiered during residencies at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival @ Mass MoCA in 2013, 2015 and 2017. The three works together comprise „The Passion“, a CD produced by Damian LeGassick and recorded at the Power Station at BerkleeNYC in May 2018 and released by Cantaloupe Music and Innova Recordings in May 2019.