Season 2008-09

JADE SIMMONS

Biography

Known for her musical creativity and electrifying stage presence, pianist Jade Simmons is committed to expanding the boundaries of classical music. Though her affinity is for the rhythmic and percussive repertoire of 20th and 21st century composers, Jade offers a diverse mix of repertoire from the classics to the cutting edge. She recently became the first ever New Music, New Places Fellow for the esteemed Concert Artists Guild organization. Under this initiative, she will help to build new audiences and generate interest in concert music by bringing traditional and new works to non-traditional and alternative venues. Her performance of the piano works of Tania León, alongside renowned pianist, Ursula Oppens, was named one of the best concerts in 2005 by ARTFORUM magazine. June 2005 also marked her debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in a performance of John Corigliano’s Piano Concerto under the baton of Leslie Dunner. Jade has performed as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, and her performances have been broadcast on PBS and National Public Radio affiliates. She has given performances abroad in Barcelona, the Canary Islands, Paris, Greece and Italy.

Not only a pianist but a youth advocacy speaker as well, Jade has spoken across the country to great acclaim. She speaks on numerous topics of social concern as founder of the Where Do You Stand?! speaker series and has appeared on a variety of radio and television programs, where she has spoken on topics ranging from the arts to provocative issues such as youth suicide prevention.. As an advocate for the arts in education, she has created a presentation entitled Mozart on the Move for elementary school students. In 2004, Jade launched a new piano concert series called the Impulse Artist Series that provides an audience for uniquely talented, up-and-coming pianists. A true renaissance woman of the millennium, Ms. Simmons designs her own concert wear, writes and (in 2006) embarked on her first media venture with the creation of Key Moments, a radio show devoted to the music of the piano and the lives of the artists who perform it. Winner of numerous awards and scholarships, Jade was Miss Illinois and 1st-runner up at the 2000 Miss America Pageant where she performed Chopin’s Etude in C-sharp minor, Op.10 No.4 live and before a television audience of millions.

A native of Charleston, South Carolina and a graduate of Rice University’s prestigious Shepherd School of Music, she received her Master of Piano Performance degree as a Provost Fellow under the tutelage of concert pianist Jon Kimura Parker. In 2001, she completed her undergraduate work at Northwestern University, studying with Dr. Sylvia Wang. Also while at Northwestern, she was a co-founder of the popular percussion and dance ensemble, Boomshaka!, and integrates percussion into her current performance activities. Jade has performed in the master classes of piano greats such as Menahem Pressler, Anton Kuerti, Andre LaPlante, Nelson Delle Vigne, Jerome Lowenthal and Phillipe Entremont. Currently, she is pursuing the International Certificate for Piano Artists from the Foundation Bell’Arte in Brussels with Dr. Robert Roux of Rice University as her principal instructor.

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