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Anna Webber
Anna Webber (b. 1984) is a New York-based flutist, saxophonist, and composer whose interests and work live the overlap between avant-garde jazz and new classical music. Her new album, Clockwise, featuring a septet comprised of several of the most creative musicians working in New York’s avant-garde, will be released on Pi Recordings in February 2019. Webber is joined on Clockwise by Jeremy Viner, Jacob Garchik, Chris Hoffman, Matt Mitchell, Chris Tordini, and Ches Smith.
In addition to this septet, Webber also leads the critically acclaimed Simple Trio, featuring drummer John Hollenbeck and pianist Matt Mitchell, with which she has released two albums on Skirl Records: Binary (2016) and SIMPLE (2014). She has furthermore recorded for Munich’s Pirouet Records with the now defunct Percussive Mechanics. Her other projects a big band co-led with Angela Morris; Jagged Spheres with Devin Gray and Elias Stemeseder; EAVE with Erik Hove, Evan Tighe, and Vicky Mettler; and The Hero of Warchester with Nathaniel Morgan and Liz Kosack.
Webber is a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow. She has additionally been awarded grants from the Copland Fund (2021 & 2019), the Shifting Foundation (2015), the New York Foundation for the Arts (2017), the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and the Canada Council for the Arts and residencies from Exploring the Metropolis (2019), the MacDowell Colony (2017 & 2020), the Millay Colony for the Arts (2015), and the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts (2014).
Webber has performed and/or recorded with Dan Weiss’ Sixteen; Jen Shyu’s Jade Tongue; Matt Mitchell’s A Pouting Grimace and Sprees; Dave Douglas’ ENGAGE; the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble; Ches Smith’s Laugh Ash; Adam Hopkins’ Crickets; Geof Bradfield’s Yes and...; the Chris Tordini Quartet; Ohad Talmor’s Grand Ensemble; Fabian Almazan’s Realm of Possibilities; Noah Garabedian’s Big Butter and the Eggmen; the Erik Hove Chamber Ensemble; a sextet from Bang on a Can All-Stars member Ken Thomson; Harris Eisenstadt’s Recent Developments; and the Marike van Dijk Stereography Project. She performed in the world premiere of Sila: The Breath of the World by Pulitzer Prize-winner John Luther Adams at the Lincoln Center.
Originally from British Columbia, Webber studied music at McGill University in Montreal before moving to New York City in 2008. She holds master’s degrees from both Manhattan School of Music and the Jazz Institute Berlin.
Awards
Prix Francois-Marcaurelle, L'OFF Festival du Jazz 2010
Tags
Anna Webber: Shimmer Wince
by John Sharpe
There is often an underlying rigor to the work of Canadian saxophonist and flautist Anna Webber, be that inspiration from the digital world on Binary (Skirl, 2016), her investigation of multiphonic intervals on Idiom (Pi, 2021) or contemporary classical percussion repertoire on Clockwise (Pi, 2020). On Shimmer Wince, she derives her compositions from her study of Just Intonation, a system which many believe offers a more “pure" way of tuning and allows greater timbral and sonic possibilities ...
read moreAnna Webber: Shimmer Wince
by Mark Corroto
Some mechanical wristwatches have clear faces which allow the owner to observe the inner workings of the marvelous object. It is a wonder just how the timepiece utilizes its mainspring and gear train to drive the harmonic oscillator which keeps near perfect time. The same can be said of composer, saxophonist and flautist Anna Webber's investigation into unique tunings using the overtone series known as Just Intonation (JI). It is an ancient system based on the natural vibration of physical ...
read moreAnna Webber, Steve Lehman, & Silvia Bolognesi
by Maurice Hogue
Digging into the music on new releases from saxophonists this week from rising-star Anna Webber's new Shimmer Wince, the highly-praised Steve Lehman with the Orchestre National De Jazz from France, Pasquale Calo from Italy and his quartet, and Chicago powerhouse Dave Rempis with Belgian bassist Farida Amadou, plus Italian bassist Silvia Bolognesi on her new world-music flavoured Timing Birds. There's something new from Germany's Dialectic Flow and Schikane, Swiss drummer Samir Boehringer, and a taste of the NYC Loft Scene ...
read moreTrevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant avec folie à quatre: Séances
by Vic Albani
Nel peculiare universo del “jazz obliquo" contemporaneo il bassista Trevor Dunn, ben conosciuto a chi approda spesso sulle spiagge del signor John Zorn, esiste da sempre un ben conosciuto e mai ben definito mondo di ricerca complessa e collegata ai mille meandri della mente umana. Racconta dunque Dunn che nella Francia del XVIII secolo esisteva una setta di cristiani, considerata eretica dai compagni servi di Dio, chiamata i Convulsionari di Saint-Médard. Dopo la morte di un amato diacono, ...
read moreTrevor Dunn: Séances
by Mike Jurkovic
Holy bank shot Batman! Is Seances, (bassist Trevor Dunn's dissertation on the how humans tend to forget and repeat, ever a radical and electrifying take on things. Anything and everything goes the distance for Dunn and the combined mad genius of his Trio-Covulsant cronies, wickedly cool guitarist Mary Halvorson and the chaotic meter of drummer Ches Smith. It has been eighteen turbulent years since this threesome last convened for the opaquely conversant Sister Phantom Owl Fish (Ipecac, 2004) ...
read moreTrevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant avec Folie À Quatre: Séances
by Mark Corroto
If you thought the Hang Mike Pence and Three Percenters crowd are just a phenomenon of the 21st century, let me introduce you to the Convulsionnaires of Saint-Médard, an 18th century Christian sect with the hysterical practices of coprophagia (yes, eating feces), spontaneous milk-vomiting and levitation. After the established religious authorities cracked down on the Convulsionnaires, many were sent to mental asylums, but others continued with less public séances or 'sessions.' Composer and bassist Trevor Dunn unearths this ...
read moreAnna Webber: Idiom
by Stefano Merighi
Già da oltre un decennio, la complessità della canadese Anna Webber (sax tenore, flauto, composizione) ci interroga sulla possibilità di compenetrare nel jazz di oggi mente e corpo, attitudine concettuale e abbandono rituale. Non è la prima, ovviamente, a lambire questi territori impervi. Si situa, forse, in una geografia sonora che parte da Cecil Taylor e attraversa le gigantesche ombre di Anthony Braxton e Henry Threadgill. Ma, velocemente, sta atterrando in un pianeta sonoro totalmente proprio, come dimostra questo doppio ...
read moreFebruary Concerts Introduce New England Conservatory's New Jazz Studies Co-chair, Internationally Acclaimed Saxophonist, Flutist, And Composer Anna Webber
Source:
Braithwaite & Katz Communications
Internationally acclaimed saxophonist, flutist, and composer Anna Webber, the new co-chair of New England Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Department, brings her multiple talents to Jordan Hall audiences for two February concerts. Webber’s teaching and coaching skills, excellence as a performer, and original compositions combine in events that reflect Webber’s expansive musical imagination and demonstrate why the Guggenheim Fellow has been called “visionary and captivating” (Wall Street Journal). Anna Webber Residency Concert on Thursday, February 8, 7:30 p.m. at Jordan Hall, 290 ...
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Internationally Acclaimed Flutist, Saxophonist And Composer Anna Webber Appointed Co-chair Of New England Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Department Beginning In 2023-2024 Academic Year
Source:
Braithwaite & Katz Communications
New England Conservatory’s Jazz Studies Department has appointed renowned flutist, saxophonist and composer Anna Webber to join the NEC faculty as Co-Chair of the Jazz Studies Department beginning in the fall of 2023. Webber, whose interests and work live in the aesthetic overlap between avant-garde jazz and new classical music, has been widely heralded for her “visionary and captivating” music (Wall Street Journal). “I'm thrilled to welcome flutist, saxophonist and composer Anna Webber to the NEC faculty and administration,” says ...
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“Anna Webber is a rare musician that can comfortably combine intellectual curiosity with pure emotion. Each time I've performed with her, a completely new sound was revealed. She is confident in her path and I am always anxious of her next moves. A brilliant player.” -Jason Moran Flutist, saxist and composer Anna Webber celebrates her new disc, Third Floor People, a whimsical yet exacting session that's likely to strike a chord with devotees of eclectic downtown jazz. -Hank Shteamer, Time Out New York Those who stand up and give the finger to the status quo must be honored
Primary Instrument
Composer / conductor
Location
New York City
Willing to teach
Beginner to advanced
Credentials/Background
As an educator, Webber has taught students of all ages and skill levels privately, through music academies, and at public and private school (PS290, Selwyn House). She is on faculty as a woodwind, band, and theory instructor at Manhattan School of Music’s summer camp, and has been a featured clinician for jazz ensembles at schools both in the USA and Canada. Email for rates and hours.
Colin Hinton
drumsPhotos
Music
Secours Meurtriers
From: SéancesBy Anna Webber
Rectangles 2
From: BinaryBy Anna Webber
Anna Webber
Location: New York City
Instrument: Composer / conductor
Born: November 26, 1984
