John Yao Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship for Interactive Jazz Project

John Yao Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship for Interactive Jazz Project The Berklee professor and trombonist will debut Let's Make Some Noise, an immersive big band experience that invites audiences to co-compose in real time.

By

Kelly Wong

May 14, 2025

John Yao, a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient.

Image courtesy of Chris Drukker

John Yao, assistant professor in Berklee College of Music's Brass Department, has been awarded a 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition for Let's Make Some Noise, an immersive concert experience that invites audiences to participate in real-time composition alongside his big band, John Yao & His 17-Piece Instrument. Designed to deepen public engagement with jazz, the project highlights the complexity and nuance of large ensemble performance while breaking down traditional boundaries between performers and listeners.

I am extremely honored and humbled to be a part of the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows in the field of music composition, said Yao. Ive been working on this idea for several years, and Im thrilled to have the incredible opportunity to bring my project to life with the support of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.

A trombonist, composer, and arranger with nearly two decades of experience, Yao has established himself in the New York City jazz scene with his lyrical melodies, warm tone, and adventurous harmonic and rhythmic language. He has released five critically acclaimed albums as a bandleader, composing for both large and small ensembles. His debut big band album, Flip Flop, earned him recognition in the 2023 DownBeat Critics Poll in the rising star trombone and big band categories. As the leader of John Yao's Triceratops, he released two albums, How We Do and Off-Kilter, which DownBeat praised for their complex and modernistic approach, reflecting his evolving voice as a composer. He will release his next album, Points in Time, on July 11.

Yao is part of the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows, which includes 198 distinguished individuals across 53 scholarly disciplines and artistic fields. Since its establishment in 1925, the Guggenheim Fellowship program has been a significant source of support for artists and scholars in the humanities and social sciences and for scientific researchers. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has granted over $400 million in fellowships to more than 19,000 individuals, including Nobel laureates, winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Fields Medalists, poets laureate, members of the national academies, and more.

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