Residency Dates: June 22, 2015 - July 12, 2015
Application Deadline: February 15, 2015
Residency Dates: October 12, 2015 - November 01, 2015
Application Deadline: May 31, 2015
Residency Dates: February 21, 2016 - March 12, 2016
Application Deadline: September 20, 2015
Residency Dates: May 15, 2016 - June 04, 2016
Application Deadline: December 06, 2015
Residency Dates: June 26, 2016 - July 16, 2016
Application Deadline: January 24, 2016
Residency Dates: October 16, 2016 - November 05, 2016
Application Deadline: May 17, 2016
Residency Dates: February 19, 2017 - March 11, 2017
Application Deadline: September 18, 2016
Residency Dates: May 14, 2017 - June 03, 2017
Application Deadline: December 04, 2016
Residency Dates: June 25, 2017 - July 15, 2017
Application Deadline: January 22, 2017
Residency Dates: October 15, 2017 - November 04, 2017
Application Deadline: June 11, 2017
Composer-pianist Vijay Iyer was named Downbeat Magazine’s Jazz Artist of the Year for 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2018 and Artist of the Year in Jazz Times’ Critics’ Poll and Readers’ Poll for 2017. He received a 2013 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2012 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and a 2011 Grammy nomination. He has released more than twenty albums, including 2019’s The Transitory Poems, in duo with pianist Craig Taborn, and 2017’s Far From Over with the Vijay Iyer Sextet, both on the ECM label. The sextet record topped numerous year-end critics polls and was cited by Rolling Stone as “2017’s jazz album to beat”; A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke (ECM, 2016) in duo with legendary composer-trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, named “Best New Music” by Pitchfork; Break Stuff (ECM, 2015) with the Vijay Iyer Trio, winner of the German Record Critics’ Award for Album of the Year; the live score to the film Radhe Radhe: Rites of Holi (ECM, 2014) by filmmaker Prashant Bhargava; and Holding it Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project (Pi Recordings, 2013), his third politically searing collaboration with poet-performer Mike Ladd, named Album of the Year in the Los Angeles TimesIyer’s compositions have been commissioned and premiered by Bang on a Can All-Stars, The Silk Road Ensemble, Ethel, Brentano Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Imani Winds, American Composers Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum, Matt Haimowitz, and Jennifer Koh. Iyer is the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts at Harvard University, with joint affiliations in the Department of Music and the Department of African and African American Studies, and the Artistic Director of the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music. For more information, please visit http://vijay-iyer.com/home/
Residency Statement
I invite composer-performers and creative musicians from all communities to join this workshop. Your existing music and/or works-in-progress will be presented and critiqued for further development; you will also be asked to create new work with and for your fellow participants. We will spend some time studying some examples from the past, to illuminate some questions we may encounter and to help you refine your own work. As you develop new pieces and projects, our collective critical process will focus on musical language, rhythm, form, texture, listening, and the ever-elusive constellation of qualities that we call “musicality.” We will share our work and ideas informally throughout the workshop, and we will present a concert at the end of our time together, featuring your new solo and ensemble music. – V.I.
Application Requirements
The admissions process will consider your individual compositions/improvisations/songs/tracks/sound works/performance projects, as well as your potential for collaborations with other participants. An ideal applicant will present a strong individual creative practice and a clear track record of ensemble work, either as a leader or co-performer. Please submit 20-30 minutes of your original music, along with brief descriptions of the included work, and (optional) scores in pdf format if any. Please include a personal statement, discussing the following:
– What are some of your artistic goals, interests, or concerns? What motivates you?
– What are you working on now? What are your immediate aims for this workshop?
– What do you seek to work on with Vijay Iyer, in particular?
– What does “musicality” mean to you?
Residency Fee: $900
Includes a $100 administration fee, weekday meals and housing; does not include artist materials, transportation, or weekend meals.
Scholarships / Financial Assistance
Only accepted Associate Artists may apply for financial assistance. For details, please visit the master artist details page.