Danielle Jagelski, JL Marlor, & Protestra
An enrolled citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and Red Cliff Band of Ojibwe, composer Danielle Jagelski often collaborates and performs with other Indigenous and Native American artists. She is passionate about kinship building and decolonization through interdisciplinary projects.
JL Marlor is a multidisciplinary artist, composer, electric guitarist, songwriter, and educator whose work blurs the boundaries between the personal and political, the collective and individual, and the classical and contemporary.
As part of Recomposing America, ACF has commissioned new works from Danielle and JL for Protestra, an NYC-based activist orchestra that bridges the divide between advocacy and classical music. The new orchestral works will highlight the concepts of girlhood and womanhood as they relate to the history and future of America.
World Premiere
Saturday, Jun. 27, 3:00 p.m.
St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church
263 W 86th St, New York, NY 10024
About Danielle Jagelski
Danielle Jagelski is an award winning composer and conductor. Her work has been performed around the world including Roulette Intermedium, The National Gallery of Art, Performance Space New York, and Green Room 42. Recent and upcoming commissions include works for Portland Opera, American Composers Forum, Voices of Ascension, New Native Theatre, North American Indigenous Songbook, Colleen Bernstein, CUNY-Segal Center, MoreArt, Lorena Navarro, and Michigan State University.
Recent and upcoming conducting engagements include Voiceless Mass by Raven Chacon with International Contemporary Ensemble, NextGen3 with Beth Morrison Projects, Amistad by Anthony Davis with Harlem Opera Theatre, and Indians of Vacation with Edmonton Opera. She is currently associate conductor for The Witcher In Concert live-to-concert National tour. Danielle is the Artistic Director of Renegade Opera and received grants from Opera America, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and Oregon Community Foundation.
About JL Marlor
JL Marlor (she/they) is a Brooklyn-based composer, electric guitarist, and songwriter whose work “churns with fury” (The Washington Post.) JL is known for her relentless exploration of girlhood and rage, drawing from the worlds of riot grrrl punk and DIY punk. Their operatic work has been commissioned by Washington National Opera and American Opera Projects, and has been performed by JACK Quartet, Wet Ink Ensemble, LoftOpera and more. In 2021, JL was named a Toulmin Creator in collaboration with National Sawdust for her work with youth to songs and lyrics for the first time as a pathway to empowerment and activism. She is a frequent performer in her own works, as an electric guitarist and a frontwoman. Beyond her work as a composer, JL performs with her indie rock band Tenderheart Bitches, which was hailed as “arriving on the indie rock scene with something serious to say” by The Wild Honeypie and was listed in Them’s 2021 list of best new songs written by queer artists.
About Protestra
PROTESTRA (protest + orchestra) is an NYC-based activist orchestra that bridges the divide between advocacy and classical music. First assembled in 2017 and formally incorporated in 2020, PROTESTRA has used orchestral performance to educate audiences about contemporary issues of social justice, including immigrant rights, climate action, gun violence, government censorship, and the war in Gaza, among many more. PROTESTRA donates a portion of ticket proceeds to mission- and policy- driven nonprofit organizations related to the concerts’ themes. In total, PROTESTRA has held eleven issue-centered benefit concerts that reached several thousand in-person and online viewers, collectively raised $41,000+ in audience donations for nonprofit beneficiaries, and provided $40,000+ of paid work to 300+ musicians.
Danielle Jagelski’s commission is supported by a grant from Jerome Foundation.
American Composers Forum’s ACF | connect program is made possible with the outstanding generosity of the following individuals: Jane Anfinson, Thomas Arneson, Suzanne Asher, Carol Barnett, Pearl and Bob Bergad, Margee and Will Bracken, Karen Brooks, Richard Cisek and Kay Fredericks, Dee Ann and Kent Crossley, Julia W. Dayton, C. Lee Essrig, Rosemary & David Good Family Foundation, Katherine Goodale, Jeff and Hyun Mee Graves, Carol Heen, Steve Heitzeg and Gwen Pappas, Kathleen Henschel and John Dewes, Linda and Jack Hoeschler, Leaetta Hough and Bob Muschewske, Sam Hsu and Sally Cheng, Hella Mears Hueg Estate Gift, Thelma Hunter Estate Gift, John and Ruth Huss, George Frederick Jewett Foundation East, Art and Martha Kaemmer, Jon Lewis and Lisa Merklin, Mike and Kay McCarthy, Greg McNeely, Alfred and Ann Moore, Louis and Gloria Nuechterlein, John Nuechterlein and Dan Monson, John and Debbie Orenstein, I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation in memory of Thelma Hunter, David and Judy Ranheim, Denice Rippentrop, Vanessa Rose, Bill and Susan Sands, Gale Sharpe, Doug and Kathy Skor, Dan and Ellie Thomas, Stephen and Jayne Usery, Kathleen van Bergen, Janika Vandervelde, Jim Wafler, and Margaret and Angus Wurtele.