From 1992 to 1995 he worked as an assistant for incidental music at the Stuttgart State Theater.

Renowned orchestras and ensembles have commissioned and performed his works, including: the New York Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI (Italian National Orchestra), the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir (SWR), the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra (WDR) Cologne, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt (HR), the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Bavarian State Opera Munich, the Salzburg Opera, the Staatskapelle Weimar, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Avanti Chamber Orchestra of Finnland, and the Tonkuenstlerorchester Vienna.

His works have been commissioned by and performed at international festivals and venues such as the NYPhil Biennial, the Salzburg Festival, the Venice Biennale, the Munich Opera Festival, the Philharmonie Cologne, the Donaueschinger Musiktage, WienModern, the Documenta Kassel, the International Computer Music Conference in Sweden, the Ultraschall Festival Berlin, and the Witten Festival for New Chamber Music, the Festival Musicadhoy in Madrid, and the Vancouver New Music Festival.

In 2000 he won the Bernd Alois Zimmermann Composition Prize from the City of Cologne. He is a three time recipient of the Southwest German Radio Heinrich Strobel Fellowship for Electronic Music. From 2014 to 2016 he was an artist in residence at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris. He received the Rome-Prize from the German Ministry of Culture and was an artist in residence at the German Academy Villa Massimo in Rome in 2017/2018.

JAY SCHWARTZ, MUSIC FOR FIVE STRINGED INSTRUMENTS II