Jacob Bancks, Composer

Praised as “colorfully orchestrated, invitingly lyrical” (The New York Times) and “highly caffeinated” (The Boston Globe), the music of composer Jacob Bancks (b. 1982) has engaged audiences worldwide. At the heart of his output are works for orchestra, with commissions from the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony, and performances by the Nashville Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, among many others. Central to his creative process are close collaborations with leading artists, including Philadelphia Orchestra principal clarinetist Ricardo Morales, marimbist Makoto Nakura, and the United States Marine Band.

A Minnesota native, Bancks has lived with his family in the Quad Cities, a community of Illinois and Iowa towns straddling the Mississippi River, since 2011. There he makes many ongoing contributions to local musical life. His long-standing relationship with the Quad City Symphony and Music Director Mark Russell Smith has resulted in numerous commissions and premieres, including his 2022 documentary opera Karkinos, based on extensive interviews with cancer survivors. A passionate advocate for the arts, he is a frequent program annotator, regularly offers public lectures on music, and serves as co-host of Music 101 on WVIK public radio. He also serves as Professor of Music at Augustana College and Director of Music at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church.

A Javits Fellow and 2019 Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellow, Bancks has been recognized by many distinguished institutions in American music, including the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, and BMI, receiving early-career commissions from the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music and New York Youth Symphony’s “First Music” program. His work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Sirius XM, and American Public Media’s Performance Today, and is heard regularly on WFMT-Chicago Classical Radio.

Bancks developed his craft through the mentorship of many composers, most notably Augusta Read Thomas, Marta Ptaszynska, and Shulamit Ran. He received early mentorship in music from Ray and Sue Sidoti and Daniel Horn, and is a graduate of the University of Chicago, Eastman School of Music, and Wheaton College.