Bryce David Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, best known as a member of the Grammy Award-winning band The National. Dessner has also made a name for himself as an acclaimed composer. His orchestral, chamber, and vocal compositions have been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Metropolitan Museum of Art (for the New York Philharmonic), Kronos Quartet, BAM Next Wave Festival, Barbican Centre, Edinburgh International Festival, Sydney Festival, eighth blackbird, Sō Percussion, New York City Ballet, and many others. His work Murder Ballades featured on eighth blackbird's album Filament, an album he also produced and performs on, won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. Bryce has worked with some of the world's most creative and respected musicians and visual artists, including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Jonny Greenwood, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Justin Peck, Ragnar Kjartansson, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Marcel Dzama and Matthew Ritchie, among others. Dessner is also the founder of the MusicNOW Festival, a founding member of the improvisatory instrumental group Clogs and co-founder of Brassland Records. He has a master's degree in music from Yale University.