Jake Runestad (MM ’11, Composition) was commissioned by Washington National Opera for his latest composition, “Daughters of the Bloody Duke,” which will have its world premiere at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. on Friday, November 21, 2014.“Daughters of the Bloody Duke” is a dark, comedic one-act opera, in which Margot, the young daughter of the Bloody Duke of Ravenswood, must choose between love and the demands of her revenge-crazed family.
Jake Runestad has been commissioned by leading ensembles and organizations such as Washington National Opera, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Seraphic Fire, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Virginia Arts Festival, the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare, Spire Chamber Ensemble, and the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay.
His compositions have been performed by hundreds of ensembles throughout the world and he has received awards from ASCAP, the American Composers Forum, the Peabody Conservatory, New Music USA, the Otto Bremmer Foundation, VocalEssence, the Virginia Arts Festival, the National Association for Music Education, the Association for Lutheran Church Musicians, and the American Choral Directors Association of Minnesota