Vijay Iyer Tickets

Vijay Iyer in Concert

One of the most celebrated jazz musicians of today, Vijay Iyer has all but joined the ranks of Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, and Keith Jarrett as a musician whose lauded contributions have become synonymous with "jazz piano." 

The son of Indian immigrants, Iyer was born in 1971 and began training on violin at age 3, also playing piano by ear. Going forward, Iyer would pursue academia — at least for a while. After studying mathematics and physics at Yale, then starting toward a doctorate in physics at U.C. Berkeley, partway through he realized his calling and completed his Ph.D. on the topic of music cognition. 

During his studies, Iyer continued playing music, taking gigs with various ensembles. He recorded his first album, ‘Memorophilia,' in 1995, and collaborated with Rudresh Mahanthappa on five albums between 1998 and 2004. In 2003, the pianist teamed up with literary figure Mike Ladd on the socially-oriented song cycle ‘In What Language?,' commissioned by the Asia Society, and it was quite well-received. 

His major breakthrough was 2012's ‘Accelerando,' his second with the classic Vijay Iyer Trio. It received universal acclaim from music critics, and Iyer won an unprecedented grouping of awards from DownBeat Magazine the following year, including Artist of the Year, Pianist of the Year, Small Group of the Year (for his trio), Album of the Year, and Rising Star Composer of the Year. 

Soon after, Iyer was named a 2013 MacArthur Fellow; the following year, he was named Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts in the music department at Harvard University. In addition to jazz, Iyer has composed a number of celebrated concert works, including ‘Mutations I-X,' which was released by ECM Records in 2014. 

Iyer has a residency at Jazz Standard in New York in January, and plays festival and touring dates in the spring.