RECENT NEWS

May 19-20, 2018: Oconomowoc, WI
World premiere of To Soar with Peace by the Jubilate Chorale.  Commissioned for the "Make a Joyful Noise!" spring concerts.
Interviewed in the Waukesha Freeman (May 10, 2018).
May 3, 2018: River Falls, WI 
World premiere of Památník ("Memorial") by the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Symphony Band. Commissioned by UWRF to honor three momentous Czech anniversaries in 2018.
Story in the River Falls Journal (April 17, 2018).
March 18, 2018: Fargo, ND
National winner of the 2017 Fissinger Choral Composition Prize, sponsored by the NDSU Challey School of Music. New choral piece, Our Rhyme, performed four times during the 2018 NDSU Concert Choir Spring Tour. Click here to learn more.
Summer 2017: Door County, WI
First season as composer-in-residence with Midsummer's Music (Door County, WI). Six performances of two pieces, including the world premiere of Death's Door (commissioned) and Sempre nella luce.
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May 9, 2017: Philadelphia, PA
National winner of Dolce Suono Ensemble's 2017 Steven Stucky Young Composers Competition. World premiere of Sempre nella luce at the Curtis Institute of Music.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Premiere at Prague Castle
Excited to announce an upcoming performance at Prague Castle with the Band of the Castle Guards & Police of the Czech Republic! They will be giving the European premiere of my wind ensemble piece, Památník ("Memorial"), on November 18, 2018.
Fellowship in Switzerland
Honored to be spending two weeks in the Swiss Alps as a Composition Fellow at the Talis Festival & Academy in Saas-Fee. They will premiere my new quintet, Reveal​, during the festival.
Second Year of Residency in Door County, Wisconsin
I will be returning for another season as the composer-in-residence of the Midsummer's Music Festival, featuring four performances of a new commissioned work, Partita melodica.
​I will also be giving pre-concert talks and a lecture on my music throughout the summer.

EDUCATION

CZECH CONNECTION

Jacob developed a strong connection to his paternal heritage in the Czech Republic after doing extensive genealogical research on his family's roots. In June 2013, he traveled to Southern Bohemia to visit the Beránek family ancestral home (above). 

Jacob has had an undeniable love for Czech music since an early age. In fact, when he was just nine years old, he begged his mom to take a trip to Spillville, Iowa, so he could experience where his favorite composer, Antonín Dvořák, spent the summer of 1893.

He traveled to the Czech Republic again in June 2015 and March 2017 to study piano and composition in Prague. Read more about Jacob's 2015 adventure in the Blog section.
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Thank you to Kara Reese Photography for many of the outstanding pictures seen throughout this website.  
​Click here to learn more.