Tyshawn Sorey (born July 8, 1980) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

, multi-instrumentalist, and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

contemporary music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...

. Sorey has received accolades for performances, recordings, and compositions ranging from improvised solo percussion to opera, with work in best-of lists for both classical and jazz music. ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' included Sorey in their annual "Notable Performances and Recordings" lists for 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020; the

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of in ...

-era entry was for premieres "cast in unconventional concerto form". His prolific output during a time of heavy restrictions on live performance led a ''New York Times'' critic to call him 2020's "composer of the year". Sorey was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2017, a United States Artists Fellow in 2018, and in 2019 his song cycle for

Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...

, ''Perle Noire: Meditations for Josephine'', was performed on the steps of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. His life and work have been the subject of features in publications including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'',

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

, and '' The Brooklyn Rail''. Sorey has recorded or performed with Wadada Leo Smith,

Steve Coleman Steve Coleman (born September 20, 1956) is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader and music theorist. In 2014, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. Early life Steve Coleman was born and grew up in South Side, Chicago. He started playing ...

, Anthony Braxton,

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of j ...

, Steve Lehman, Joey Baron, Muhal Richard Abrams,

Pete Robbins Pete Robbins (born November 28, 1978) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer living in Brooklyn. He graduated from the New England Conservatory in 2002. He has performed or recorded with Vijay Iyer, John Hollenbeck, John Zorn, Craig Tab ...

, Cory Smythe, Kris Davis, Vijay Iyer, Myra Melford, Dave Douglas,

Butch Morris Lawrence Douglas "Butch" Morris (February 10, 1947 – January 29, 2013) was an American cornetist, composer and conductor. He was known for pioneering his structural improvisation method, ''Conduction'', which he utilized on many recordings. ...

, and Sylvie Courvoisier. In 2020, Sorey joined the faculty at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

as Presidential Assistant Professor of Music.

Early life and career

Sorey grew up in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

, and attended Newark Arts High School. As a teenager, he participated in the

New Jersey Performing Arts Center The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Home to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), more than nine million visitors ...

Jazz for Teens program, through which he was awarded a Star-Ledger Scholarship. In 2004, Sorey completed a B.Music in jazz studies and performance at

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American j ...

, where he began as a classical trombone major before transferring to jazz drumming. After a number of years recording and performing as a sideperson for artists including Vijay Iyer and Steve Lehman, Sorey's first album as leader was released on Firehouse 12 Records in 2007. The 2-CD ''That/Not'' features various configurations of Sorey, trombonist Ben Gerstein, pianist Cory Smythe, and bassist Thomas Morgan performing an extensive array of works, from "Seven Pieces for Trombone Quartet" to the forty-three minute "Permutations for Solo Piano." Sorey primarily plays drums, but also makes appearances on piano, including on the album's opening track. The material recorded for the album exceeded even the constraints of a two-disc set: a subsequent digital release of ''That/Not'' includes five additional pieces from the same sessions, including two "4 Hands" piano tracks. Sorey released his second album, ''Koan'', in June 2009. Featuring Todd Neufeld (on electric and acoustic guitar) and Thomas Morgan (on bass and acoustic guitar), the 482 Music release was reviewed favorably by ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'' and the '' BBC'', included in the 2009 ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'' Jazz Critics’ Poll, and praised in NPR's "Take Five's Top 10 Jazz Records Of 2009". In the fall of 2009, Sorey enrolled in a master’s program at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

to study composition with Anthony Braxton. He completed his M.A. in the spring of 2011 before beginning a doctoral program at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in the fall. His enrollment at Columbia coincided with the release of his highly-lauded ''Oblique – I''. During the six years of doctoral study that followed, Sorey worked closely with George E. Lewis and

Fred Lerdahl Alfred Whitford (Fred) Lerdahl (born March 10, 1943, in Madison, Wisconsin) is the Fritz Reiner Professor Emeritus of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on musical grammar an ...

; off-campus, he recorded three albums with pianist Cory Smythe and bassist Chris Tordini. The first of these, ''Alloy'', was released on Pi Recordings in 2014. For ''The Inner Spectrum of Variables'', the trio was joined by three string performers: violinist Fung Chern Hwei, violist Kyle Armbrust, and cellist Rubin Kodheli. The ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

'' called ''The Inner Spectrum of Variables'' "one of the year's most arresting and ambitious recordings", and ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' included the album in their "Ten Best Albums of 2016"; Nextbop's Rob Shepherd named it the best jazz album of the decade. The following year, Sorey returned to the trio format for ''Verisimilitude'', which was listed third in both the 2017

Jazz Critics Poll and ''The New York Times'' Best Jazz Albums of 2017. In 2017, Sorey also completed his Doctor of Musical Arts in composition at Columbia. His dissertation comprises scores for his song cycle ''Perle Noire: Meditations for Josephine'' and an essay on the aesthetic practices and critical reception of the composition, its subject

, and the composer himself. Sorey cited Julia Bullock and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble as integral to his endeavor to "challenge the improvisation/composition binary and celebrate collaborative modeling"; in 2019, these artists joined Sorey in performing the piece on the steps of the

. After receiving his DMA, Sorey began his appointment as Assistant Professor of Music at

, where he established the university's Ensemble for New Music and taught courses on composition and improvised music. In the fall of 2017, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his work in music performance and composition. In 2018, Sorey premiered Cycles of My Being commissioned by Opera Philadelphia, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

starring Lawrence Brownlee with poetry by Terrance Hayes. This song cycle centers on what it means to be a Black man living in America today and in 2020 was made into a film with Opera Philadelphia and released on their Digital Channel. In 2018 he also released ''Pillars'' on Firehouse 12. The following year he was named Composer in Residence for the Seattle Symphony and Opera Philadelphia, and his duo album with Marilyn Crispell, ''The Adornment of Time'', was released on Pi Recordings. In March 2020, just before the pandemic hit the Northeastern United States in full force, Sorey self-released his sextet's ''Unfiltered''. That fall, he joined the faculty at the

as Presidential Assistant Professor of Music. Beginning in 2019, Sorey embarked on several musical projects with Alarm Will Sound including ''For George Lewis'', a through-composed composition scored for sinfonietta commissioned by the ensemble, as well as several versions of autoschediasms, spontaneous compositions led by Sorey drawing on the improvisational abilities of the instrumentalists. ''For George Lewis'' was premiered in 2019 at Washington University in St Louis and released on an album with two versions of autoschediasms in 2021. While one autoschediasm came from a live performance in St Louis in 2019, the other was recorded completely remotely with musicians performing from five states during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Sorey recorded a holiday-themed autoschediasm based on

Coventry Carol The "Coventry Carol" is an English Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was traditionally performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called '' The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors''. The play depicts the Ch ...

and Sussex Carol with Alarm Will Sound. In 2022, Sorey’s composition ''Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)'', commissioned for the 50th anniversary of the Rothko Chapel premieres there, followed by performances at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. The piece has similar instrumentation to Morton Feldman’s 1971 composition ''Rothko Chapel''.

Musical style

Sorey's work is broadly experimental, drawing on a wide variety of influences, practices, and traditions. He opposes the categorization of music by distinct

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...

s, and in interviews and his doctoral thesis has critiqued notions of

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

and composition as mutually exclusive. Described as a musical shapeshifter, Sorey says he is invested less in "combining" genres than in movement across varying musical terrains: "For me, mobility represents not adhering to any particular musical model or institution. Unlike hybridity, mobility isn’t about fusion so much as the freedom to move between different models from moment to moment."

Awards and honors

*2008: Van Lier Fellowship *2008: Jerome Foundation Residency Grant *2012: Other Minds Composer Residency *2013: JazzDanmark / Danish Arts Foundation Artist Residency *2014: Shifting Foundation Grant *2015: Doris Duke Impact Award *2015: Jerome Foundation Residency Grant *2017: MacArthur Fellowship *2018: United States Artists Fellowship *2019: Seattle Symphony Composer in Residence *2019: Opera Philadelphia Composer in Residence

Discography

As leader/composer

As co-leader/composer

As sideman and/or composer

;With Alarm Will Sound *''For George Lewis / Autoschediasms'' (2021, Cantaloupe Music) ;With Samuel Blaser *''Pieces of Old Sky'' (2009) ;With

David Binney David Binney (born August 2, 1961) is an American alto saxophonist and composer. Early life Binney was born in Miami, Florida, and was raised in Carpinteria, California. From his parents, who loved music, he was exposed to albums by John C ...

*''Lifted Land'' (2013) ;With Anthony Braxton *''Trillium E'' (2011) ;With

*''Harvesting Semblances and Affinities'' (2010) *''The Mancy of Sound'' (2011) ;With

Armen Donelian Armen Hrant Donelian (born December 1, 1950) is a jazz pianist, composer, educator and author. Donelian was classically trained at the Westchester Conservatory of Music in White Plains, New York. He has appeared since 1975 as a featured soloist a ...

*''Leapfrog'' (2011) ;With Alexandra Grimal *''Andromeda'' (2012) ;With Henry Grimes,

Roberto Pettinato Roberto Pettinato (born December 15, 1955 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine musician, journalist, and television presenter. Early life Pettinato's father, Roberto Sr., was a high-ranking corrections officer in the administration of Juan Perón ...

and

Dave Burrell Herman Davis "Dave" Burrell (born September 10, 1940) is an American jazz pianist. He has played with many jazz musicians including Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Marion Brown and David Murray. Biography Born in Middletown, Ohio, United ...

*''Purity'' (2012) ;With Vijay Iyer *'' Blood Sutra'' (Artists House, 2003) *'' Far From Over'' (ECM, 2017) *'' Uneasy'' (ECM, 2021) ;With Max Johnson *''Quartet'' (2012) ;With Lauer Large *''Konstanz Suite'' (2009) ;With

Ingrid Laubrock Ingrid Laubrock (born 24 September 1970) is a German jazz saxophonist, who primarily plays tenor saxophone but also performs and records on soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones. She studied with Jean Toussaint, Dave Liebman and at the Guildh ...

*'' Serpentines'' (2016) ;With Steve Lehman *''Demian as Posthuman'' (2005) *''On Meaning'' (2007) *''Travail, Transformation and Flow'' (2009) *''Mise en Abîme'' (2014) ;With Lage Lund *''Terrible Animals'' (2019) ;With

Roscoe Mitchell Roscoe Mitchell (born August 3, 1940) is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' described him as "one of the key figures ...

*'' Duets with Tyshawn Sorey and Special Guest Hugh Ragin'' (Wide Hive, 2013) *''

Bells for the South Side ''Bells for the South Side'' is a double album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, which was recorded live in 2015 at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago in the context of "The Freedom Principle", a 50th-anniversary exhibition devoted t ...

'' (ECM, 2017) ;With Hafez Modirzadeh *''Facets'' (2021) ;With Pascal Niggenkemper *''Pasàpas'' (2008) *''Urban Creatures'' (2010) ;With Timuçin Şahin *''Bafa'' (2009) *''Inherence'' (2013) ;With Samo Šalamon *''Kei's Secret'' (2006) ;With Som Sum Sam *''Beauty Under Construction'' (2005) ;With Angelica Sanchez Trio *''Float the Edge'' (Clean Feed, 2017) ;With Sirone and

Billy Bang Billy Bang (September 20, 1947 – April 11, 2011), born William Vincent Walker, was an American free jazz violinist and composer. Biography Bang's family moved to New York City's Bronx neighborhood while he was still an infant, and as a ...

*''

Configuration Configuration or configurations may refer to: Computing * Computer configuration or system configuration * Configuration file, a software file used to configure the initial settings for a computer program * Configurator, also known as choice bo ...

'' (Silkheart, 2005) With Craig Taborn *'' Flaga: Book of Angels Volume 27'' (Tzadik, 2016) composed by

;With

*''In the Hall of Mirrors'' (Tzadik, 2014) *''Valentine's Day'' (Tzadik, 2014) *''Hen to Pan'' (Tzadik, 2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorey, Tyshawn MacArthur Fellows American percussionists Columbia University alumni Wesleyan University alumni William Paterson University alumni Living people 1980 births Musicians from Newark, New Jersey Newark Arts High School alumni African-American male classical composers American male classical composers 21st-century American composers Wesleyan University faculty African-American classical composers American classical composers Avant-garde jazz musicians Pi Recordings artists Intakt Records artists 21st-century classical composers 21st-century American male musicians Firehouse 12 Records artists 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people