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MacArthur Fellows Program

Vijay Iyer

Jazz Pianist and Composer | Class of 2013

Forging a new conception of the practice of American music in compositions for his ensembles, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and scholarly work.

Portrait of Vijay Iyer Photos for download >
Title
Jazz Pianist and Composer
Location
New York, New York
Age
41 at time of award
Area of Focus
Music Performance and Composition
Website
Social
Published September 25, 2013

About Vijay's Work

Vijay Iyer is a pianist, composer, bandleader, electronic musician, and writer forging a new conception of jazz and American creative music through an eclectic oeuvre that includes compositions for his own and other ensembles, collaborations across multiple genres and disciplines, and scholarly research on the act of listening.  An ardent investigator of musical communities, practices, histories, and theories, he mines core rhythmic, melodic, and structural elements from a wide range of sources to construct richly varied, improvisation-driven solo and ensemble music.

Iyer’s compositions for jazz quartet on his album Reimagining (2005) feature elaborate melodic constructions and intricate rhythmic techniques influenced by South Indian classical music, West African drumming, contemporary European composers, and twentieth-century African American piano masters. On Historicity (2009) and Accelerando (2012), he imaginatively rearranges works by Stevie Wonder, Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Michael Jackson, M.I.A., and others, developing new rhythms, textures, and strategies for the piano trio.

Parallel to these projects, he has expanded his creative practice through frequent collaborations with poets. Holding It Down: The Veterans’ Dream Project (2013) illuminates the lived experience of war and the subsequent return to civilian life, as the dreams of minority veterans from the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are rendered as lyrics and set to a restless, poignant electroacoustic score punctuated by moments of improvisation.

With academic training in music cognition, Iyer complements his musicianship with writings for both specialist and general audiences that investigate the ever-shifting relationship between culture, perception, and aesthetics. Through his wide-ranging body of work, Iyer is creating a unique voice in diverse musical contexts while reaffirming the place of music not just as entertainment but as an essential part of human society.

Biography

Vijay Iyer received a B.S. (1992) from Yale College and a Ph.D. (1998) from the University of California at Berkeley. His additional recordings include Tirtha (2011), Solo (2010), and Door (2008, with the collective trio Fieldwork), among others. He has performed his music at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Walker Art Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Chicago Symphony Hall, University of California at Los Angeles’s Royce Hall, Köln Philharmonie, Musiekgebouw Amsterdam, and Teatro Manzoni di Milano, as well as dozens of international music festivals and jazz clubs around the world. In January 2014, he will join the Harvard University Department of Music as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts.

Select News Coverage of Vijay Iyer
December 2, 2019
"Ally: From Noun to Verb"
Boston Review
Vijay Iyer, 2013 MacArthur Fellow
May 7, 2019
"Virtuoso Pianist Vijay Iyer Brings His Sextet to the Mondavi Center"
Capital Public Radio
Vijay Iyer, 2013 MacArthur Fellow
May 3, 2018
"Pianist And Composer Vijay Iyer Demonstrates His Elasticity And Imagination Within His Agile Sextet"
Chicago Reader
Tyshawn Sorey, 2017 MacArthur Fellow
Vijay Iyer, 2013 MacArthur Fellow
December 20, 2017
"The 2017 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll"
NPR
Tyshawn Sorey, 2017 MacArthur Fellow
Vijay Iyer, 2013 MacArthur Fellow
Steve Coleman, 2014 MacArthur Fellow
November 14, 2017
"'A Portrait' of Vijay Iyer Conjures Vivid New Sounds"
Chicago Tribune
Vijay Iyer, 2013 MacArthur Fellow
October 24, 2017
"Musical Space: Genius Recognized"
KMUW
Rhiannon Giddens, Yuval Sharon, Tyshawn Sorey, 2017 MacArthur Fellows
Milton Babbitt , 1986 MacArthur Fellow
Ornette Coleman , 1994 MacArthur Fellow
Edgar Meyer , 2002 MacArthur Fellow
Chris Thile, 2012 MacArthur Fellow
Vijay Iyer, 2013 MacArthur Fellow
October 20, 2017
"At Ojai Music Festival, Vijay Iyer Showcases Improvisation"
NPR
Vijay Iyer, 2013 MacArthur Fellow
August 26, 2017
"Vijay Iyer On Jazz's 'History Of Defiance,' His Influences And Playing In A Sextet"
NPR
Vijay Iyer, 2013 MacArthur Fellow
August 23, 2017
"Pianist Vijay Iyer Combines Complicated Rhythms With Modern Style On 'Far From Over'"
NPR
Vijay Iyer, 2013 MacArthur Fellow
View all news

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Please credit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

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