Praised as “colorfully orchestrated, invitingly lyrical” (The New York Times) and “highly caffeinated” (The Boston Globe), the music of Illinois composer Jacob Bancks (b. 1982) has engaged and inspired musicians and audiences around the world. 

At the core of his output are works for orchestra, with performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony, the Sarajevo Philharmonic, the Annapolis Symphony, the South Dakota Symphony, the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony, and the New York Youth Symphony. Other ensembles that have performed his works include eighth blackbird, Pacifica Quartet, American Modern Ensemble, Schola Antiqua of Chicago, Cantori New York, Eastman Wind Ensemble, OSSIA New Music, Kobe (Japan) City Philharmonic Chorus, Kyoto Gewandhaus Chor, and Spektral Quartet. Among his most significant projects are close collaborations with clarinetist Ricardo Morales, marimbist Makoto Nakura, mezzo-soprano Julia Bentley, pianist Kuang-Hao Huang, the United States Marine Band (with conductor Jason Fettig), and the Quad City Symphony (with conductor Mark Russell Smith).

Born in the small town of Fairmont, Minnesota, since 2011 he and his family have made their home in the Quad Cities, a community of Illinois and Iowa towns straddling the Mississippi River. There he makes many contributions to local musical life, serving as associate professor on the faculty of Augustana College, directing the choir of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, writing program notes for the Quad Cities Symphony, lecturing on music at the German American Heritage Center, and co-hosting a monthly educational program on WVIK public radio. In addition to the QCSO, he has composed frequently for local ensembles, including the Moline High School Orchestra, the Quincy Symphony, and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (Davenport, Iowa).

A 2019 recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship, he has earned awards, honors, and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, BMI, the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, the U.S. Department of Education, Sigma Alpha Iota international music fraternity, Soli Deo Gloria, the Minnesota Commissioning Club, the International Double Reed Society, the Hanson Institute for American Music, and the Commission Project. Recordings of his music have been released by American Modern Recordings and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, American Public Media’s Performance Today, and WFMT-Chicago Classical Radio.

He studied composition with Shulamit Ran, Marta Ptaszynska, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, David Liptak, and Augusta Read Thomas, and participated in masterclasses with Luca Francesconi and Louis Andreissen. Among his other important mentors are Cliff Colnot, Daniel Horn, and Ray and Sue Sidoti. He holds degrees from the University of Chicago, Eastman School of Music, and Wheaton College.