Terence Blanchard

Terence Blanchard, born on March 13, 1962, is a distinguished American jazz trumpeter and composer whose career spans over four decades. He began his musical journey in 1980 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra while pursuing jazz studies at Rutgers University. By 1982, he made a pivotal decision to leave Rutgers and join The Jazz Messengers, marking the start of his professional career.

Blanchard is renowned for his contributions to film music, having composed more than eighty scores for film and television. His collaborations with director Spike Lee have garnered significant acclaim, including two Academy Award nominations for Original Score for the films BlacKkKlansman in 2018 and Da 5 Bloods in 2020. Additionally, he has made history with his opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones, which was staged by the Metropolitan Opera in the 2021–2022 season, becoming the first opera by an African American composer to be performed by the organization.

In addition to his artistic achievements, Blanchard is a dedicated educator and mentor. He served as the artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz from 2000 to 2011 and later took on the role of artistic director at the Henry Mancini Institute at the University of Miami in 2011. His commitment to education continued as he became a visiting scholar in jazz composition at the Berklee College of Music in 2015 and was appointed to the Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies at UCLA in 2019, a position he held until 2023.

In 2023, Blanchard was appointed as the Executive Artistic Director of SFJAZZ, where he oversees the organization's artistic programming and creative direction. His contributions to the jazz community have been recognized with his selection as the 2024 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters, solidifying his legacy as a pivotal figure in contemporary jazz.