J. R. Speake

 J. R. Speake is an Alabama-born composer and conductor based in the Kansas City area. With an eclectic style and a wide range of musical interests, J. R.’s music includes works for solo, chamber, and large ensemble; acoustic and electronic; music for dance, and music for film.

His works have been performed regionally, nationally, and internationally, notably in France while at the 2017 Zodiac Music Academy & Festival, in Edinburgh, Scotland at the 2018 Fringe Festival, and at the 2019 International Tuba Euphonium Conference in Iowa City, IA. His compositions have received national and international recognition. He earned second prize in the 2021 Quadre International Composition Competition for his piece for horn quartet, Evening Sun, and his tuba concerto, Camden, was given special mention in 2022 for the first edition of the Winds Composition Contest Saxony. He was recognized as a finalist in 2023 for the prestigious American Prize in Music for his choral work, It Was A Sunday. In 2024, he was commissioned to write a new work for the first edition of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra’s Alabama Composers Project, an initiative aimed at commissioning composers from Alabama or composers whose works are influenced by Alabama’s history and culture. Recently, he has received a commission to write a new work for flutist Stephen Clark. He is an active collaborator engaged in participating with other artists, with an interest in multidisciplinary collaboration. In addition to composition, J. R. is an active orchestrator and received his Carnegie Hall debut in 2022 for his work on Amir Zaheri’s composition, After a Season of Silence: A Huxford Hymn.

J. R. also has a considerable interest in conducting, considering it to be as much a part of his musical identity as he does composition. During his time at the University of Alabama, he served as the Associate Director of the Contemporary Ensemble as well as the Assistant Conductor of both the Huxford Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Theatre’s production of Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin. His conducting credits include Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite for 13 Instruments and Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. In the summer of 2021, J. R. participated in the National Orchestral Institute’s inaugural conducting academy as an auditor, observing and working with conductors Marin Alsop and James Ross.

J. R. holds both a Bachelor and Masters of Music in Composition from the University of Alabama. While a student at the University of Alabama, he was a tutor in music theory as well as an instructor of aural skills and counterpoint. As a composer,    J. R. is interested in connecting with people through his music, hoping to make a positive impact on the lives of others through what he loves: creating art.