Board Of Trustees
TERENCE BLANCHARD - 1st Term
Blanchard is a renowned composer, band leader and trumpet player who has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements for over 40 years. From his stint with Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, to writing scores for Spike Lee and other films, he is unique in the jazz world as an artist whose creative endeavors go far beyond the genre into film scoring, crafting television series soundscapes, and conceiving grand operas that have been recognized at the highest levels of art appreciation. A recipient of a 2018 USA Artist Fellowship and a 2023 Peabody Medal, Terence is also a passionate educational mentor, having held positions at the Berklee Institute of Music, The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and as Chair of Jazz Studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, amongst many others. Blanchard has been at the forefront of giving voice in his works to socio-cultural issues and racial injustices of our time.
Blanchard has had a long relationship with SFJAZZ. In 2016, SFJAZZ presented his opera Champion: An Opera in Jazz, and most recently, his E-Collective with Turtle Island Quartet in August 2022. As Executive Artistic Director, Blanchard is the artistic leader of the organization and will help formulate and implement programming across diverse disciplines and genres.