Anna Webber is a composer and reedist whose interests and work straddle new classical music and avant-garde jazz. Webber received a BA in music from McGill University and MMu degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the Jazz Institute at Berlin’s Universität der Künste. A 2018 Guggenheim fellow, Webber has also received grants from the Shifting Foundation, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and Canada Council for the Arts, and she has held residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Millay Colony for the Arts, and Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts. Her additional awards include the 2010 Prix François-Marcaurelle at the OFF Festival of Jazz in Montreal and the 2014 BMI Foundation Charlie Parker Composition Prize, as a member of the BMI Jazz Composers’ Workshop.
Webber’s 2018 album Clockwise (Pi Recordings) features a septet comprised of Jeremy Viner, Jacob Garchik, Chris Hoffman, Matt Mitchell, Chris Tordini, and Ches Smith. She 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). Her other projects include 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 has performed and/or recorded with Dan Weiss’ Sixteen; Jen Shyu’s Jade Tongue; Dave Douglas’ ENACT; Adam Hopkins’ Crickets; Geof Bradfield’s Yes and…; and a sextet from Bang on a Can all-stars’ member Ken Thomson. She recently played in the world premiere of Sila: The Breath of the World by Pulitzer Prize-winner John Luther Adams at Lincoln Center.
