"Freedom as Improvisation" - In Conversation with Vijay Iyer

Part of the Freedom Talks: A Conversation Series, presented by the Amherst College Departments of Black Studies, Environmental Studies and Political Science

Described by The New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway,” composer-pianist VIJAY IYER is one of the leading music-makers of his generation. His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, a Grammy nomination, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. His most recent album is Love In Exile (Verve Records, 2023), a collaborative trio release with Grammy-winning vocalist Arooj Aftab and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily. This follows Uneasy (ECM Records, 2021), a trio session with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh , which was named Best New Music in Pitchfork and was hailed by the New Yorker as “a triumph of small-group interplay and fertile invention.”

This event is free and open to the public