Yvonne Rogers is a pianist, composer, and improviser from Penobscot, Maine, now based in Brooklyn, New York. A 2021 graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester, Yvonne holds two degrees: a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Piano Performance from the studio of Gary Versace and a Bachelor of Arts in African and African American Studies. She was selected to attend the internationally assembled 2021/2022 Focusyear Basel residency where she performed with jazz masters including Kris Davis, Sullivan Fortner, Linda May Han Oh, Ingrid Laubrock, Larry Grenadier, Lionel Loueke, Aaron Parks, Tineke Postma, and Miguel Zenón. Yvonne has performed at venues and festivals around the world including the Jazz Gallery, the Blue Note, the Stone, Porgy and Bess (Vienna), Jamboree (Barcelona), Birdseye (Basel), the Deer Isle Jazz Festival, and the Rochester International Jazz Festival as both a side-person and band-leader. In 2022 she was commissioned by the Big Basel Festival to compose a piece for large ensemble based on a sculpture by Louise Bourgeois. She has participated in programs including the Woodshed Network Residency and the School of Improvised Music.

Currently, Yvonne performs regularly in groups including Ingrid Laubrock’s Lilith and the Adam O’Farrill Quartet. Her debut album “Seeds” was released in September 2023 on Relative Pitch Records. Improvisation, play, and curiosity are core to Yvonne’s work. Equally essential to her creative practice is the influence of her upbringing in rural, coastal Maine. Alongside her performance career, she is an educator and teaches piano at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Yvonne is constantly creating—drawing inspiration from her community and the small miracles of everyday life.

Photo by Ela Kodzas