Vijay Iyer ([ˌvɪdʒeɪˈaɪjər];[1] born October 26, 1971) is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer and writer based in New York City. The New York Times has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway".[2] Iyer received a 2013 MacArthur Fellowship,[3] a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artists Fellowship,[4] a Grammy nomination,[5] and the Alpert Award in the Arts.[6] He was voted Jazz Artist of the Year in the DownBeat magazine international critics' polls in 2012,[7] 2015,[8] 2016,[9] and 2018.[10] In 2014, he received a lifetime appointment as the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts at Harvard University, where he was jointly appointed in the Department of Music[11] and the Department of African and African American Studies.[12]
^"Vijay Iyer Bio". Vijay Iyer. November 20, 2012. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
^"We are so very pleased to announce that Vijay Iyer has accepted our offer to join the Department of Music in January 2014. Vijay will be the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts." Harvard Music Department Facebook page, July 12, 2013.
^Harvard Department of African and African American Studies webpage, accessed April 10, 2020.