Tyshawn Sorey Composer

Biography

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Tyshawn Sorey is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and conductor. He performs worldwide with his ensembles and alongside musicians such as John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, King Britt, Claire Chase, Roscoe Mitchell, and Steve Lehman. In 2024, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Music for Adagio (for Wadada Leo Smith), after being a finalist in 2023 for Monochromatic Light (Afterlife). He is a MacArthur Fellow (2017) and United States Artists Fellow (2018) and has also received the Pew Fellowship, the Fromm Fellowship, the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Koussevitzky Prize.

He has composed for the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Talea Ensemble, Julia Bullock, the PRISM Quartet, the JACK Quartet, the TAK Ensemble, Brooklyn Rider, A Far Cry, Seth Parker Woods, Matt Haimovitz, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Davóne Tines, Alarm Will Sound, Awadagin Pratt, Roomful of Teeth, Sarah Rothenberg, Johnny Gandelsman, and Lawrence Brownlee.

His music has been presented at venues such as the Library of Congress, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, Park Avenue Armory, Donaueschingen Festival, Lucerne Festival, and Lincoln Center. His works are published by Éditions Peters. Since 2020, he has been on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a resident artist at the Peabody Institute in 2023 and regularly teaches at institutions including Columbia, Harvard, the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, New England Conservatory, University of Michigan, Banff Centre, Berklee, Mills College, University of Chicago, and the Danish Rhythmic Conservatory.

In spring 2023, he premiered Be Holding with Yarn/Wire, a multimedia adaptation of a poem by Ross Gay. His trio with Aaron Diehl and Harish Raghavan also performed Cogitations with Sandbox Percussion, a commission celebrating the centenary of Max Roach.

Debut at the Paris Opera.

Currently in

Immerse in the Paris Opera universe

Corporate Partnerships