Described by The Washington Post as “tantalizing … engaging, with a touch of the provocative,” Jessica Krash’s compositions have been presented in both traditional and experimental settings. Many of Krash’s works have been collaborations with choreographers, including a piece for saxophonists on both sides of the C & 0 Canal (in a thunderstorm); a children’s ballet in a rundown, former amusement park; a piece for voice, dancer and large mobiles at the Joyce SoHo in New York City; and her performance of Beethoven’s Appassionata in a Pierrot costume for a dance concert at Lincoln Center. The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts has presented a full concert of her work. Schools and synagogues have commissioned her to write music for the dedications of their new buildings, including a piece combining klezmer band, jazz percussion, and classical piano.
Her short film, Playground Music, based on her songs for children’s chorus, was broadcast on WETA, public television in Washington, DC. Premieres of Krash’s chamber music have been given by internationally acclaimed artists including Ian Swensen (violin), Gary Louie (sax), Lisa Emenheiser (piano), Martha Elliott (soprano), Tanya Anisimova (cello), and Chen Tau (dizi – Chinese flute).
As a pianist, Krash has performed in America and Europe, including concerts at the Old Opera House in Frankfurt and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center, and the National Gallery in Washington, DC. She has given chamber music concerts with many string players including Kolja Blacher (former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic) and Igor Gavrysh (faculty of the Moscow Conservatory), and has recorded a work written for her by Lawrence Moss (Capstone Records CPS-8619).
Krash has directed several organizations, including the Washington chapter of the American Composers Forum, Chamber Music Weekend (an intensive festival for amateurs at the Levine School of Music), and a twelve-year chamber music workshop for sophisticated amateur musicians at George Washington University. She has taught at the University of Maryland, George Mason University, and the Levine School of Music, and is currently on the faculty of the George Washington University, where she develops and teaches new courses on “dangerous music,” contemporary music, and music appreciation.
Born in Washington, DC, Krash graduated Phi Beta Kappa with high honors from Harvard College, earned a masters degree in piano from Juilliard, and a doctorate in composition from the University of Maryland. She studied composition with Earl Kim, Lawrence Moss, and Lyle Davidson, piano with Patricia Zander and Nadia Reisenberg, and chamber music with Joel Krosnick, Sandor Vegh, and Leon Kirchner. She also studied at MIT with Jeanne Bamberger, doing research in the philosophical and cognitive issues underlying musical understanding.
Jessica Krash has three children: eighteen-year-old twins, and a ten year old. She is married to David Freeman, a psychologist who runs a program for homeless, mentally-ill adults in downtown Washington, DC.
