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Jazz composer Vijay Iyer to debut new piece at Norfolk Festival
Reflecting on his time at Yale, Iyer mentioned the influence of Willie Ruff, a professor at the School of Music.
Jazz composer Vijay Iyer / Image- Yale News
Indian American jazz composer and pianist Vijay Iyer will debut his new chamber music composition at the Yale School of Music’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival on July.27.
The piece, “Variations on a Theme by Ornette Coleman,” honors the late free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman.
Iyer, a MacArthur recipient and three-time Grammy nominee, described his inspiration for the piece, saying, “Ornette Coleman wrote a composition called ‘War Orphans,’ which often has a solemn, pastoral quality in many interpretations. However, his original version had an intensity and defiant joy that struck me. I wanted to explore and capture that essence in my composition.”
The new york was commissioned through the Norfolk festival’s Musical Bridges Project, which aims to integrate classical chamber music with broader musical and cultural contexts. Robert Whipple, the festival’s general manager, noted, “The Musical Bridges Project showcases new works that incorporate musical elements or instrumentalists from non-Western classical traditions or respond to specific community experiences. Vijay’s composition is a perfect fit for our vision.”
As an undergraduate at Yale, Iyer majored in math and physics while simultaneously pursuing music. “There was a talent show at the end of our freshman year and I played ‘Round Midnight’ by Thelonious Monk,” Iyer recalled. “It just blew them away. They had no idea that I had this whole other side of myself.”
Reflecting on his time at Yale, Iyer mentioned the influence of Willie Ruff, a professor at the School of Music. “Willie taught an orchestration course where we had to arrange music for various ensembles. That was my first experience writing for chamber ensembles,” Iyer said. “It was a workshop environment that was incredibly formative for me.”
Iyer, a tenured professor at Harvard University, where he holds joint appointments in the Department of Music and the Department of African and African American Studies, continues to be a prolific composer for classical ensembles and soloists. His works have been premiered by esteemed groups such as the Brentano Quartet and Imani Winds, both of which are performing at this year’s Norfolk festival.
The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival runs from July 5 to Aug.17, with concerts held in the recently renovated Music Shed on the Ellen Battell Stoeckel estate.
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