About

Hello!

This page is still a work in progress. I would love to write/transcribe/arrange/engrave any music you want! For such inquiries please contact me with this link.

Here are some of my career documents in PDF format: list of works, list of performances, bios, Resume, and Curriculum Vitae (CV).

Most of my music has a copyright symbol on it, but feel free to perform, use, or do anything you would like with everything other than removing my name and distributing it. :)

Short Bio

I am Jake Berran (b. 2002), a composer, pianist, conductor, singer, percussionist, and aspiring educator from Minnesota. Currently, I am pursuing a B.M. in Composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a B.A. in Mathematics at Oberlin College. To me, music is uniquely captivating, potent, and ambiguous—it brings powerful communal experiences while inspiring self-reflection and self-discovery. Most of my work is for chamber ensemble, solo performer, orchestra, voices, electronics, or musical theater, though I will readily write for any situation. My goal is to learn, take risks, and grow, so each piece is different from the last—perhaps theatrical, microtonal, interactive and electronic, harmonically unfamiliar, big, weird, or vulnerable. That's how I am finding my multifaceted yet personal style. My music has been performed by groups such as the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, Oberlin College Choir, Unheard-of//Ensemble, White Snake Projects, and Minnesota Sinfonia.

Short Bio (third person)

Jake Berran (b. 2002) is a composer, pianist, conductor, singer, percussionist, and aspiring educator from Minnesota. Currently, he is pursuing a B.M. in Composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a B.A. in Mathematics at Oberlin College. To him, music is uniquely captivating, potent, and ambiguous—it brings powerful communal experiences while inspiring self-reflection and self-discovery. Most of Berran's work is for chamber ensemble, solo performer, orchestra, voices, electronics, or musical theater, though he will readily write for any situation. His goal is to learn, take risks, and grow, so each piece is different from the last—perhaps theatrical, microtonal, interactive and electronic, harmonically unfamiliar, big, weird, or vulnerable. That's how he is finding his multifaceted yet personal style. Berran's music has been performed by groups such as the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, Oberlin College Choir, Unheard-of//Ensemble, White Snake Projects, and Minnesota Sinfonia.

Long Bio (outdated)

Jake Berran (b. 2002) is a composer from Minnesota currently studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Stephen Hartke, Michael Frazier, Jesse Jones, Jihyun Kim, and Elizabeth Ogonek. He enjoys writing for any instrumentation but feels most at home with piano, percussion, concert band, and choir.

His passion for music is rooted in his belief that all languages of expression have unique strengths and work in tandem to create human connection. Berran finds that music has a magical, captivating power to give a voice to those parts of the human experience that aren't always so easily articulated. To that end, he loves making each new creative process a completely different path through the vast expanse of human emotion and thought, resulting in a unique, multifaceted style.

Jake's current compositional interests include exploring humor, juxtaposing aesthetically incongruent material, working with various forms of text, and using electronics in enticing and appealing ways. Given the biases inherent to his upbringing as a white male studying classical music, he values listening outside of the Western canon as much as possible. For the same reason, he emphasizes commentary on large-scale issues and social justice in his creativity.

Outside of composition, Jake has experience directing vocalists, conducting the pit orchestra, and playing piano for the Oberlin Musical Theater Association. He has also performed as a solo pianist and accompanist numerous times, placing fifth in the Minnesota Music Teachers Association Senior Young Artist competition in 2020. He is passionate about teaching and has worked with beginning piano students as a private teacher, beginning band students as a teaching assistant, and Oberlin College students as a math tutor, his other major.

Jake's music has been performed by groups such as the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, Oberlin College Choir, and Unheard-of//Ensemble. In 2021, he was selected as a composer for White Snake Projects Incarcerated Voices, a collaboration between incarcerated writers and composers to produce vocal pieces. He was one of three winners in the 2020 Minnesota Sinfonia New Works Competition for his Ballade for Orchestra, and he was second place in the 2020 Minnesota Music Teachers Association Student Composition Contest for his piano solo Rhapsody No. 1.