Student 2020 Class > Anton Kot
Anton Kot
Anton Eddie Kot has incorporated jazz into his daily routine since birth. Since childhood, Anton frequented live performances such as Phillip Glass at Roulette in Soho, which triggered him to create one of his first piano “compositions” responding to a “snowstorm” on a pre-k school night. By age 5, Sunday drives over the Queensboro Bridge to the Kaufman Center for classical piano lessons were combined with jamming sessions in Brazilian Percussion at Greenpoint’s Warsaw and Afro-Haitian bongo in Dumbo. He scooted fifteen blocks from his home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to create works with hybrid artist/musician Ken Butler by combining recycled materials from which he would practice drum techniques and listen carefully for sound differentials. He tested the annual architectural projects at PS1, and where he Warm[ed] UP with contemporary sounds that he compares to a drum lesson with Matt Wilson at the Litchfield Jazz Camp in which he played the same beat on a ride cymbal for 45 minutes.
Most recently, Anton shared “Well Wishes” on ZOOM with the 2020 pre-college graduating class at the Manhattan School of Music (MSM). At MSM, he studied jazz drums under Joe Peri and Curtis Nowosad, and jazz piano under Jeremy Manasia. He was also the drummer for the MSM Precollege Jazz Band recently recognized for Outstanding Performance in Honors Ensemble by the Downbeat 43rd Annual Student Music Awards. He was named Jazz Prodigy Artist during the 2019 Berkshire Jazz Festival, and completed a performance tour in Asia with Grammy Vocalist Kurt Elling and with Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz led by Sean Jones. As an All-Star drummer in the 2019 Vail Jazz Session directed by John Clayton, he studied under Lewis Nash, and is the drummer for the 2020 Jazz Band of America Honors Ensemble conduced by Dr. Roy McCurdy. This year, Anton finishes his last season as pianist for the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra led by Tatum Greenblatt and Ted Nash, recipients of the 2020 Charles Mingus Festival Outstanding Specialized Big Band Award, and the Downbeat 42nd Annual Student Music Outstanding Performance in Honors Ensemble Award where he played piano and drums. He also received the Berklee College 2019 High School Jazz Festival Superior and Outstanding Individual Awards, and two Judge’s Choice awards for performing with New Haven’s ACES Educational Center for the Arts ensemble on piano, drums, and vibes. In September 2020, he will relocate to New York City’s Greenwich Village for music studies at New York University.
Instagram: a.n.t.o.n.k.o.t