Yaz Lancaster (they/them) is a Black transdisciplinary artist. Their work as a performer, composer, poet/writer, and collaborator is grounded in queer, DIY, and liberatory frameworks; and is presented in a wide range of mediums. It utilizes fragmentation & collage, practices aligned with relational aesthetics, improvisatory forms, and genrefluid electroacoustic composition to explore poetics, natural phenomena, and politics of liberation & identity. Through independent study, Yaz spends time thinking about the cultivation of care & intimacy, Marxist theory/praxis, and digital (sub)cultures. Recent collaborations include Brooklyn Youth Chorus (composer-in-residence 2023-2024), Minnesota Philharmonic, Miss Grit, the National Sawdust Ensemble, Opera Philadelphia (with Sean Pecknold), BAKUDI SCREAM, Nyokabi Kariuki, and post-genre duo partner Andrew Noseworthy (laydøwn). Their solo debut record AmethYst, featuring music for violin, voice, and electronics was released on April 7, 2023. They currently work as the co-manager of people places records, co-organizer with Sound Off: Music for Bail, and a freelance writer for several publications. Yaz lives on indigenous Lenape land, known today as Harlem (NYC) with their little dog Nori.

“Defying genre, they veer from rich R&B to white noise avant-garde in one sweep of their violin bow.
- Gordon Rutherford, Louder Than War

“The changeability of Lancaster’s music comes from their belief in being adaptive to others as an act of care, and from their vision of art as something defined by the relationships it creates.” – Sara Constant, Musicworks

“[Their work] balances a meditative solitude with speculative musing about human interaction and intimacy.”
– Terrance Hayes

“It’s a feeling I feel like I’ve known for ages but have never heard quite like this… Have you ever gone somewhere you’ve never been before, but the moment you get there, it feels like home? That’s AmethYst for me.”
– Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis