Anton Kot

Anton Kot is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer known for his work
on drums, piano, and gamelan. Described as a musician with “composers wit” (Paul
Rauch, All About Jazz), he is recognized by BMI as a 2025 Future Jazz Master who
continues to push the boundaries of music by combining contemporary genres with the
jazz idiom.

Born in New York City, Kot was raised by visual artist parents and immersed in the
creative community of early Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He received his first drum set at
age three and began piano lessons soon after at the age of 4. Following a Philip Glass
performance at the nearby venue Roulette, he composed his first piece, “Snowstorm.”
Kot credits his early exposure to the arts with broadening his musical palette and
shaping his multifaceted sound.

In 2022, Kot premiered his commissioned, twenty-five-minute piano concerto, Let's Try
This, at the 2022 International Festival of Arts & Ideas with the New Haven Symphony
Orchestra, directed by Alasdair Neale. The piece is a self-reflection where a pianist
rediscovers their instrument under the stress of induced isolation. It was designed to be
performed differently each time as a nod to the insistent volatility of Covid’s effect on
daily life. The same year, he was also commissioned by the Berkshire Jazz Festival to
compose a piece for the novel 10 x 10 Upstreet Arts Jazz Composers Showcase, which
premiered at the Berkshire Museum in 2023. The work for jazz quartet entitled, “Haven’t
Heard Back,” delves into the themes of nostalgia and the influence social connections
have on shaping our individual identities — exploring the emotional depths that arise
when yearning for past experiences, interwoven with the strength of personal bonds.

As a bandleader, Kot has headlined at the 2023 Pittsfield City Jazz Festival, the 2022
Litchfield Jazz Festival, and the 2021 Bronx River Festival Streams of Black Music. His
acts featured saxophonist Don Braden, Albert Rivera, bassist Avery Sharpe, trumpeter
Jean Caze, pianist Caili O’Doherty, and Tyler Bullock II. The performance highlighted
Kot on drums and piano, showcasing a blend of original and derivative compositions.
Litchfield Jazz Festival founder Vita Muir noted in publication A Triumph at 27!: "One
audience member called Kot 'a highlight in the [Litchfield] Festival's history.' Praise well
deserved.”

His recent accomplishments include being a recipient of the National YoungArts X
Anthropologie Leading with Creativity Award (2023) where he was commissioned to
write music for Anthropologie. He has also performed with members of the Honeywell
Arts Resonance Institute as a twice awarded fellowship scholar (2023 & 2021) and is a
recipient of the 2024 inaugural year-long Honeywell Fellowship. Additionally, he is a
2024 Steans Music Institute Jazz Program Fellow 2024, where he premiered his composition at the Ravinia Music Festival, and an alumnus of the 2024 Betty Carter Jazz Ahead residency.

Kot has performed at venues domestically and internationally, including Dizzy’s Club
Coca Cola, Mezzrow, Blue Note, The Django, Le Duc des Lombards (Paris), Sunset/
Sunside (Paris), Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai (Shanghai,
China), Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, the National Centre for the Performing Arts
(Beijing, China), JZ Club (Shanghai & Hangzhou, China), Chengdu City Concert Hall
(Chengdu, China), the International Gamelan Festival (Solo, Indonesia), Detroit Jazz
Festival, Vail Jazz Festival, and the Newport Jazz Festival. His international
appearances also include performances in Abu Dhabi and Warsaw.

An NYU alumnus and current Juilliard School graduate student, he has collaborated
with Sean Jones, Kurt Elling, Wycliffe Gordon, Marcus Miller, Zaccai Curtis, Niño Josele,
Ken Peplowski, Ted Rosenthal, Steven Feifke, Samora Pinderhughes, Cy Leo, Chico
Freeman, Janis Siegel, Manuel Valera, Dezron Douglas, Ari Hoenig, Alan Broadbent,
Tatum Greenblatt, Pak Sumarsam, and I.M. Harjito.