RECENT NEWS

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November 18, 2018: Concert at Prague Castle
Very grateful to Col Dr. Václav Blahunek and the Band of the Castle Guards & Police of the Czech Republic for their outstanding performance of my Památník: "Memorial" for Wind Ensemble in the gorgeous Spanish Hall of Prague Castle.
Read the review in KlasikaPlus.cz (in Czech)!

July 17-29, 2018: Fellowship in Switzerland
Honored to have spent two weeks in the Swiss Alps as a Composition Fellow at the Talis Festival & Academy in Saas-Fee, featuring the premiere my new quintet, Reveal.

Thank you to Kara Reese Photography for many of the outstanding pictures seen throughout this website.  
​Click here to learn more.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

"Abendgebet" (Evening Prayer) World Premiere by the Gesualdo Six in London, England - March 7, 2019
Extremely honored to have been chosen as the winner of the Gesualdo Six's worldwide composition contest for ages 21-and-under. My new piece "Abendgebet" (Evening Prayer), with text by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, will receive its world premiere at Cadogan Hall. Maybe I'll get to meet you there! For tickets, please click here.

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Third Year of Residency in Door County, Wisconsin - 2019
After an exciting second season as the composer-in-residence of the Midsummer's Music Festival in 2018, featuring four performances of my Partita melodica, I'm already looking forward to next season. See you in the summer!

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EDUCATION

• Pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition at    ​Vanderbilt University - Blair School of Music in Nashville
• Studied composition privately with Ronald Foster​ (2015-17)
• Studied piano with Margarita Kontorovsky (2015-17) at the
  Waukesha County Conservatory of Music, Hartland, WI
• Studied composition and piano with Sam Ecoff (2007-15) at the Waukesha County Conservatory of Music, Hartland, WI
• Composition Fellow at the Talis Festival & Academy,
  Saas-Fee, Switzerland: July 17-29, 2018
• Young Artist Summer Program, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, PA: July 17 - August 6, 2016
• Junior Composers Institute/Studio, Minneapolis, MN:
  ​each July from 2012-2015
• Mentoring relationship with Joel Blahnik from Alliance Publications, Inc.​​
• Graduated from University Lake School in Hartland, WI

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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.