Vijay Iyer Quartet Vijay Iyer, Jason Palmer, Linda May Han Oh, Jeremy Dutton

Trailblazing pianist-composer Vijay Iyer leads an electrifying quartet featuring trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Jeremy Dutton.

Some performances — especially jazz — invite you to surrender the need to know what’s coming next. You stop trying to predict the next note and simply hold your breath, waiting to discover where the music will lead. That uncertainty is the thrill: performers and audience alike follow the sound somewhere unexpected, until you find yourself wondering, “How did they do that?”

The Vijay Iyer Quartet lives in that space of possibility. Performing compositions by Vijay Iyer, the ensemble reveals new possibilities in the music each time it takes the stage. Together, the quartet combines acoustic instruments with Fender Rhodes and electronics, creating music that is fearless, unpredictable, and constantly unfolding.

Vijay Iyer is a composer and pianist whose three-decade body of work has made him an influential, shape-shifting presence in 21st-century music. The New York Times has called him a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway.” A MacArthur Fellow, three-time Grammy nominee, and four-time DownBeat Jazz Artist of the Year, his recent releases include Love In Exile (Verve, 2023), a collaboration with vocalist Arooj Aftab and bassist Shahzad Ismaily, and Compassion (ECM, 2024), with drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist Linda May Han Oh.

This performance is sponsored by Terry Spaeth and Wendy Shannon-Spaeth.