Yaz Lancaster (b.1996) is a composer-performer and poet based in Brooklyn, New York. They are interested in the performance of ‘contemporary’ music, collaboration, community-building, and the representation of minorities in the arts.

Yaz has a wide range of performance experiences as a violinist including ‘classical’ orchestral/chamber music settings, performing and recording with jazz-fusion, RnB, and punk artists, and being a member of the pit for musical theatre and opera. In 2016, Yaz was invited as a fellow to the Miami Music Festival, and in 2018 they attended New Music on the Point as a violinist where they worked with Ted Hearne and George Lewis, as well as composer participants on their works alongside members of JACK Quartet, Tony Arnold, and Jan Williams. Yaz also arranges for and performs with the NYU steel ensemble under the direction of Joshua Quillen.

As a composer and writer, they are interested in the influence of poetry, nature, sociopolitical issues, and timbral/textural colors as guided by synesthesia. Yaz enjoys writing for young musicians, and collaborating with NYC-based percussion duo Washington Squared , Canadian composer-guitarist Andrew Noseworthy and NYC composer Sebastian Zel. Yaz is pursuing their M.M. at New York University where they study with Cyrus Beroukhim (violin) and Joan La Barbara/Robert Honstein (composition).

http://yaz-lancaster.com