Prolific musician Vijay Iyer leads a master class with UW music students, followed by a Q & A moderated by School of music professor and improvisational trumpeter Steph Richards. This event is co-hosted by Meany Center for the Performing Arts and the UW School of Music. Vijay Iyer appears at Meany Center for the Performing Arts on May 14 and 15 with East Coast Chamber Ensemble. Details here.
Note: The class is free to attend, but RSVP is required. RSVP HERE
Program
for violin alone (3') - Michaela Klesse, violin
The Diamond, Movt. I. A Dream (6') - David Teves-Tan, violin, Jeffrey Tso, piano
Crown Thy Good (5'), Freya Frahm, piano
Biography
Described by The New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway,” VIJAY IYER has carved out a unique path as an influential, prolific, shape-shifting presence in twenty-first-century music. A composer and pianist active and revered across multiple musical communities, Iyer has created a consistently innovative, emotionally resonant body of work over the last three decades, earning him a place as one of the leading music-makers of his generation.
Iyer’s musical language is indebted to composer-pianists from Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk to Alice Coltrane and Geri Allen, the rhythmic traditions of South Asia and West Africa, and the African American creative music movement of the 60s and 70s. His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, three Grammy nominations, the Alpert Award in the Arts, the Greenfield Prize, a Dutch “Edison” Prize, and two German “Echo” awards; he was also voted DownBeat Magazine’s Jazz Artist of the Year four times. He has been praised by Pitchfork as “one of the best in the world at what he does,” by the Los Angeles Weekly as “a boundless and deeply important young star,” and by Minnesota Public Radio as “an American treasure.” Rolling Stone observed, “Iyer’s music knows no bounds.”
Iyer’s creative work is documented on thirty acclaimed albums. Defiant Life (ECM Records), Iyer’s second suite of duets with visionary composer-trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, was named one of the best albums of 2025 in various publications, including The Wire, Stereogum, Magnet, The ArtsFuse, and the San Diego Union-Tribune, whose critic called it “one of the most contemplative, understated and moving albums of the year.” Released the same year, Thereupon (Pi Recordings) documented the long-awaited return of Fieldwork, an all-star collective comprising Iyer, saxophonist Steve Lehman, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. This album was also included in various “Best Of” lists for 2025 on NPR, Bandcamp Daily, JazzTrail, PostGenre, Scherzo (ES), and WRTI, whose commentator wrote, “Their vigorous thirst for growth, truth and understanding resonates throughout this project.” At the end of 2025, sarode player Alam Khan (son of the late Ali Akbar Khan) released a collaborative EP with Iyer on piano and Nitin Mitta on tabla, titled Sanctuary.
In 2024 Iyer released Compassion (ECM Records), featuring his celebrated trio with Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh. The New York Times observed, “It’s as if this band wants to both seduce you and discomfit you, stripping you of everything but the ability to think and see for yourself.” Other recent releases include Love In Exile (Verve, 2023), a Grammy-nominated collaboration with vocalist Arooj Aftab and bassist Shahzad Ismaily; Uneasy (ECM Records, 2021), the acclaimed first trio session with Sorey and Oh; and Far From Over (ECM, 2017) with the award-winning Vijay Iyer Sextet.
Iyer is also a prolific composer of concert music, with works premiered by London Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, Brentano Quartet, Imani Winds, Parker Quartet, Bang on a Can All-Stars, The Silk Road Ensemble, Sō Percussion, International Contemporary Ensemble, and virtuosi Jennifer Koh, Matt Haimowitz, Mishka Rushdie Momen, Claire Chase, Inbal Segev, Sarah Rothenberg, and Shai Wosner. In 2024 the Boston Modern Orchestra Project released Vijay Iyer: Trouble (BMOP/sound), a portrait album consisting of three of Iyer’s major works, of which The Wire (UK) stated, “This music is both uplifting and instructive; it enlightens through its irresistible buoyancy.” Iyer recently served as composer-in-residence at London’s Wigmore Hall, music director of the Ojai Music Festival, and artist-in-residence at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2024 his string quartet Dig the Say became the score to a pas de deux choreographed by Justin Peck for the New York City Ballet. His scores are published by Schott Music.
A tireless collaborator, he has written big-band music for Arturo O’Farrill and Darcy James Argue, remixed classic recordings of Talvin Singh and Meredith Monk, joined forces with legendary musicians Henry Threadgill, Reggie Workman, Zakir Hussain, and L. Subramanian, and developed interdisciplinary work with Carrie Mae Weems, Julie Mehretu, Teju Cole, Mike Ladd, Robin Coste Lewis, Karole Armitage, and Prashant Bhargava. Iyer is a tenured professor at Harvard University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Music and the Department of African and African American Studies. He is a Steinway artist and he lives in New York City.