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 Broadcast Music, Inc. (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. The performances highlighted Kot on drums and piano, showcasing a blend of original compositions and reimagined works. 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, where he premiered his composition at the Ravinia Music Festival, and an alumnus of the 2024 Betty Carter Jazz Ahead residency.

Kot has appeared at leading venues across the United States and abroad, 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, Guggenheim Museum, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing, China), JZ Club (Shanghai & Hangzhou, China), and Chengdu City Concert Hall (Chengdu, China). He has also taken the stage at major festivals including the International Gamelan Festival (Solo, Indonesia), Detroit Jazz Festival, Vail Jazz Festival, and the Newport Jazz Festival. International appearances also include performances in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and Warsaw, Poland.

An NYU alumnus and current Juilliard School graduate student, Anton Kot has collaborated with various artists, including Don Braden, Alan Broadbent, Zaccai Curtis, Luques Curtis, Dezron Douglas, Kurt Elling, Steven Feifke, Chico Freeman, Wycliffe Gordon, Tatum Greenblatt, I.M. Harjito, Ari Hoenig, Sean Jones, Niño Josele, Erica von Kleist, Cy Leo, Marcus Miller, Ken Peplowski, Samora Pinderhughes, Ted Rosenthal, Avery Sharp, Mark Sherman, Janis Siegel, Pak Sumarsam, Helen Sung, Manuel Valera, Xin Ying, and Nicole Zuraitis. Anton Kot’s work reflects a restless curiosity — always in service of music that surprises, moves, and connects.