Dr. Jennifer Jolley Begins 2026-27 Academic Year with New Commissions, Residencies and Research

Composer, conductor and Lehman College music chair continues work across the U.S. and abroad

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, October 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Dr. Jennifer Jolley, composer, conductor, 2023 Fulbright Scholar, Chair of the Department of Music and Associate Professor at Lehman College, is beginning the 2026-27 academic year with several new compositions, performances, residencies and research projects underway.

Jolley recently collaborated with the Florida State University Wind Ensemble for the world premiere of her new piece, The Space Coast, written for wind ensemble and soprano. The piece previews excerpts from her forthcoming opera, Spacewalk, which tells the story of the first all-female spacewalk through seven vignettes. And Jolley is now working on two new commissions, including an upcoming project involving hornist Steven Cohen and tubist and music educator Genevieve Clarkson.

Earlier in the summer, Jolley served on the faculty for the Composer’s Sandbox Summer Intensive at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Held May 31-June 14, the two-week program gave early-career composers the opportunity to study with composition faculty and work with members of Grammy Award-winning Eighth Blackbird, culminating in performances and recordings of participants’ work.

Jolley’s upcoming schedule includes a residency at Avaloch Farm Music Institute. From March 2-4, 2027, she will serve as distinguished guest composer at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s NuMu ’27 new music festival, where her works are expected to be featured in chamber music, choral, band and orchestral performances. In May 2027, she will travel to Alba, Italy, to serve on the faculty of the 2027 Alba Music Festival Composition Program, taking place May 22-31. Applications for the program are open through Dec. 15, 2026. Her 2027 schedule will continue in June with a premiere in Miami during the first week of the month.

At Lehman College, Jolley has been accepted as a CUNY Summer 2026 Archives & Open Knowledge Faculty Fellow and is beginning an archival research project focused on digitally encoding the Deborah Pacini Hernandez Music Collection and making the materials more accessible for study. The project builds on her work as a 2023 Fulbright Scholar in Egypt and her return to Cairo in 2025 to present research on digital archiving and music preservation.

“I am honored to be part of a growing number of women composers who are making their mark on new opera and classical music,” said Dr. Jennifer Jolley. “My work draws toward subjects that are political and even provocative because music can be a nonviolent voice that inspires healthy debate and insight. In our tumultuous society, I believe that is necessary.”

In addition to her work at Lehman College, Jolley serves on the Board of Directors of New Music USA and on the advisory panel for Music Resurgence Group.

To learn more about Jolley, please visit www.jenniferjolley.com/. To connect with her on LinkedIn, visit www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-jolley/. For media inquiries please contact Skylar Peterson at speterson@tempo-comms.com or (774) 571-1357.


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About Jennifer Jolley
Jennifer Jolley is a composer, conductor and professor whose works have been commissioned and performed by ensembles worldwide, including the Dallas Winds, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Central Ohio Symphony, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and Quince Ensemble. Her music has been featured at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Rivera Court at the Detroit Institute of Arts and Žofín Palace.

Jolley received degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. She is Chair of the Department of Music and Associate Professor at Lehman College in the Bronx and was a 2023 Fulbright Scholar.

Skylar Peterson
Tempo Communications
+1 774-571-1357
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