Jay Ansill is a composer and folk musician, known primarily as a

Celtic harp The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring grea ...

ist and

fiddler A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, the ...

. Ansill has released several solo albums including ''Origami'', ''A Lost World'' (an adaptation of poems by Robert Graves), and three privately released tributes to

The Incredible String Band The Incredible String Band (sometimes abbreviated as ISB) were a Scottish psychedelic folk band formed by Clive Palmer (musician), Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron in Edinburgh in 1966. The band built a considerable following, esp ...

. Ansill has worked as a collaborator with

Robin Williamson Robin Duncan Harry Williamson (born 24 November 1943) is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and storyteller who was a founding member of The Incredible String Band. Career Williamson lived in the Fairmilehead area of Edinbu ...

Tony Trischka Anthony Cattell Trischka (born January 16, 1949) is an American five-string banjo player. Sandra Brennan wrote of him in 2021: "One of the most influential modern banjoists, both in several forms of bluegrass music and occasionally in jazz and ...

Maria del Mar Bonet Maria del Mar Bonet i Verdaguer (Balearic Catalan: ; born 1947 in Palma, Majorca) is a Spanish singer from the island of Majorca. Early life and career Bonet studied ceramics in the school of arts, but eventually decided to dedicate herself to ...

, Anthony Green

Rodney Anonymous Rodney Linderman (born 21 May 1963), also known by his stage name Rodney Anonymous, is an American musician, journalist, and humorist currently based in Philadelphia. He is best known as the lead vocalist, keyboardist and co-songwriter of the ...

(of

the Dead Milkmen The Dead Milkmen is an American punk rock band formed in 1983 in Philadelphia. Their original lineup consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Rodney Linderman ("Rodney Anonymous"), guitarist and vocalist Joe Genaro ("Joe Jack Talcum"), bassist Da ...

), Marah, and Honeychurch. Ansill is also an accomplished practitioner of

Origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a f ...

and has written two books on the subject; ''Mythical Beings'' and ''Lifestyle Origami''. The two books were published as a single volume in 2004 as ''The Origami Sourcebook''.

Biography

Ansill was born on December 18, 1961 and raised in the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

suburb of Cheltenham Township. He became interested in

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

while at

Cheltenham High School Cheltenham High School is a public high school in the Wyncote neighborhood of Cheltenham Township, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, located from the border of the City of Philadelphia and from Center City. Serving grades 9 through 12, Chelt ...

and before long he was playing mandolin and fiddle at square dances and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Ceilis. While still in high school, he formed the Schuylkill Valley Nature Boys, a band that played all kinds of folk music and became well known in Philadelphia in the early 1980s for a station ID they recorded for

WXPN WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format shows ...

FM. As his range of abilities as a musician widened, Ansill developed an interest in composition. While never formally studying music, he has closely studied several composers with whom he felt an affinity, most notably

David Amram David Werner Amram III (born November 17, 1930) is an American composer, arranger, and conductor of orchestral, chamber, and choral works, many with jazz flavorings.

, and has developed a unique approach to writing new music. Much of Ansill's writing centers on the

, although recently he has been writing and arranging for strings and has written a

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

quintet. This music is firmly rooted in the traditional music of the United States and the British Isles, but combines elements of classical music,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

. It is music that is very modern, yet it strikes directly at the ancient heart of music. The emotional power and stylistic adventurousness of Ansill's music also owes a great deal to the literature of the twentieth century, particularly the work of

Laura Riding Laura Riding Jackson (born Laura Reichenthal; January 16, 1901 – September 2, 1991), best known as Laura Riding, was an American poet, critic, novelist, essayist and short story writer. Early life She was born in New York City to Nathan ...

, Robert Graves and

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

. Ansill was nominated twice as Best Folk Instrumentalist by the Philadelphia Music Foundation and in 1990 his album ''Origami'', a collection of original compositions, was voted Best Folk Recording. He was also nominated for two Barrymore Awards in the same year for theatrical scores for productions of

The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Priz ...

and Charlotte's Web at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia. Ansill is a regular collaborator with

Mabou Mines Mabou Mines is an experimental theatre company founded in 1970 and based in New York City. Founding and history Mabou Mines was founded by David Warrilow, Lee Breuer, Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and Philip Glass, at the house of Akalait ...

theater company. The ''Folk Harp Journal'' says that "He has created a new language for the Celtic harp."

Personal life

Jay Ansill is married to the painter Claudia Balant, who has sung on some of his recordings.

Career

In 1994, Ansill released ''Mind and Body'', a collection of new original music that includes settings of poems by

Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

and Graves, as well as some music written for theater, and some music that expands the boundaries of the harp through the use of compelling rhythms and improvisation. His CD, ''A Lost World'', is a series of settings of poems by Robert Graves (

I, Claudius ''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the Ro ...

The White Goddess ''The White Goddess: a Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth'' is a book-length essay on the nature of poetic myth-making by author and poet Robert Graves. First published in 1948, the book is based on earlier articles published in ''Wales'' magaz ...

). This album features excellent performances by a variety of singers and musicians. In 2004, he was awarded an Independence Foundation grant and spent two months in Majorca and ''Barcelona'' learning traditional music from the region. In 2007, one of his settings of poetry by Robert Graves (The Secret Land, translated into Catalan by the poet's daughter

Lucia Graves Lucia Graves (born 21 July 1943) is a writer and translator. Born in Devon, England, she is the daughter of writer Robert Graves, and his second wife, Beryl Pritchard (1915–2003). Biography Lucia is a translator working in English and Spanish/ ...

) was recorded by

on her CD ''Terra Secreta''. In 2009, he composed and performed music for

' production of

Lee Breuer Esser Leopold Breuer (February 6, 1937 – January 3, 2021) was an American playwright, theater director, academic, educator, filmmaker, poet, and lyricist. Breuer taught and directed on six continents. Career Breuer was a founding co-artistic ...

's Pataphysics Penyeach In 2009,

Anne Hills Anne Hills (born October 18, 1953) is an American folk singer-songwriter. Hills was born to a family of missionaries in Moradabad, India, and grew up in Michigan, United States. She studied at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, where she pl ...

performed four songs with the SW Michigan Symphony Orchestra, three of which featured music by Ansill and all of which were orchestrated by him. In 2012, Jay launched his "Cheese Project", a collection of cover versions of cheesy pop songs from the 1960s and '70s. In 2014, Jay and Anne performed a series of Jay's arrangements of settings of Graves Poems by Ivor Gurney, as well as a selection of his own settings for string quartet and occasionally Celtic harp in Deia Mallorca for an audience that included many family members and friends of Robert Graves. In 2016, Jay and Anne Hills released Fragile Gifts, a collection of songs, mostly written by Anne and Jay was released. It features more "classical" arrangements for strings, brass and woodwinds in various combinations. In 2017, Mabou Mines premier's Lee Breuer's Glass Guignol in NY, for which Jay is the composer.

Recent activities

In 2018, Ansill provided the live music for Lane Savadove's event, ''Company''.''Talkin' Broadway'', Sep 23, 2018
Regional Reviews: Philadelphia, ''Company'', EgoPo Classic Theater / 2018 Philadelphia Fringe Festival - Review by Rebecca Rendel
/ref> In 2018 Jay Also composed and directed the music for EgoPo Classic Theater's production of

John Guare John Guare ( ;; born February 5, 1938) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the author of '' The House of Blue Leaves'' and '' Six Degrees of Separation''. Early life He was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens.Druckman ...

's "Lydie Breeze Trilogy" directed by Lane Savadove.

References

External links

*
Philadelphia Citypaper Feature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansill, Jay Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Folk musicians from Pennsylvania Origami artists People from Cheltenham, Pennsylvania