Ms, Amy K Bormet is a pianist, vocalist, and composer, known for her fearless free-wheeling style and dedication to creating new music. To collaborate with and celebrate women musicians, she started the annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival in 2011, directing, financing, and performing in an annual festival and women-focused events throughout the year in the DC area.
She has formed several ensembles to perform and record her compositions. Los Angeles-based quintet, AmyAna, co-led with Brazilian drummer Ana Barreiro, released their debut album in 2019, and performed an east coast tour in October 2021. The Harold Trio, an instant composition ensemble with Tina Raymond, drums and Biggi Vinkeloe, saxophone/flute, released their second album, Open Secrets, in 2019. Her quintet, Ephemera, a project of women’s poetry and improvisation, performed a two-week tour of Sweden. Currently she tours and performs her songs with the Amy K Bormet Trio, and No Trick Pony.
Amy’s recordings are available through Strange Woman Records, which she co-owns with guitarist/producer and husband Dr. Matt Dievendorf.
As an educator and a mentor, Amy K Bormet amplifies her performance tours with outreach masterclasses and residencies, recently at the Thailand International Jazz Conference (Mahidol University, January 2020), Los Angeles City College (February 2020), the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts (May 2022), and Shepherd University (Jan 2023). She is a teaching artist, collaborating with the Kennedy Center’s newest programming at the REACH to present and perform with her all-women trio “the future ofjazz is female” for middle school students.
She continues to serve as a mentor for Grammy U, 202creates, and the summer program for the Washington Jazz Arts Institute, where she has participated since she was a high school student at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She chairs the alumni board of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.
As her performance career develops, Amy focuses more on presenting her compositions. She began to write orchestral music in 2013 as a part of the Jazz Composer's Orchestra Institute (American Composer’s Orchestra) and premiered several new pieces with her quartet and the Capital City Symphony in February 2017. Her trio and string quartet debuted two sets of new music at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in March 2016. She wrote and performed music for two residencies at the Kennedy Center; Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead for composer/performers and the Mary Lou Williams Emerging Artist Showcase.
A Ward 7 resident, Ms. Bormet earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jazz Studies Piano Performance from the University of Michigan and her Master of Fine Arts in Jazz Studi
Contact Email: [email protected]
Commissioner Since: April 2, 2024
Current Term Ends: June 30, 2026