In addition to these faculty-led performance groups, MIT boasts hundreds of student interest groups in dance, film, literary arts, music, theater and other interdisciplinary forms. From a cappella singing to improvisational comedy, origami folding to Bhangra dancing, students can choose from a diverse and lively array of arts activities on campus.
Visit theater.mit.edu for more information about student-led theater groups.
For a complete list of student-led interest groups, visit the MIT Association of Student Activities (ASA).
For more information, contact:
Shannon Rose McAuliffe
Manager of Student Arts Programs
617.253.4004
The MIT Chamber Chorus (21M.405) is a small, all-student group that performs two concerts each year under the direction of Dr. William Cutter. Designed for the more vocally and musically advanced singer, this select ensemble is challenged with a wide variety of repertoire including music for a cappella chorus as well as choral works accompanied by chamber orchestra and other small instrumental ensembles, or with piano accompaniment.
The Chamber Music Society, coordinated by Professor Marcus Thompson, is comprised of students selected by audition to study and perform classical chamber music and jazz combo literature. All groups rehearse independently and are coached one hour per week by MIT faculty and perform a recital at the end of each semester in Killian Hall.
MIT Concert Choir (21M.401), a large choral group, is open by audition to both graduate and undergraduate students, and to members of the MIT community. The Concert Choir is a social, academic and musical ensemble in which students learn and perform large, major works from the standard repertoire, as well as selected shorter and lesser-known pieces.
MIT Dramashop is a co-curricular student theater group open to all members of the MIT community. We offer many opportunities for people interested in acting, directing, stage managing, writing, and designing or building sets, lights, sound, and costumes.
The MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, founded in 1963 by Boston jazz icon Herb Pomeroy, is comprised of undergraduate and graduate MIT students from many fields of study. Membership is open to students from other area colleges, but priority is given to MIT students. The central mission of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble is to enhance the musical education and artistic sensitivity of its members through study and performance of jazz ensemble literature.
Galak Tika, founded and directed by Evan Ziporyn, Kenan Sahin Professor of Music at MIT, is the Boston area’s first Balinese gamelan. This large percussion orchestra consists of gongs, metallophones, hand drums with cymbals, vocals, bamboo lutes and spiked fiddles.
Rambax MIT is an ensemble dedicated to learning the art of sabar, a vibrant drum and dance tradition of the Wolof people of Senegal, West Africa. (The name “rambax” – pronounced “rahm-bach” – is a vocal mnemonic for a signature sabar rhythm.) In Senegal, sabars are played exclusively by griots, a caste of hereditary musicians. Sabar drum troupes perform at a variety of events, from neighborhood dance parties to baptisms, weddings, and wrestling matches.
Founded in 1884, this full-size orchestra is comprised primarily of MIT and Wellesley College students. MITSO performs four concerts each year and may be taken for credit (21M421). Membership is by audition. From J.S. Bach to John Harbison, concert programs feature a broad range of challenging repertoire spanning works of the early Baroque era to contemporary compositions, including music for film and theater.
Founded by Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr. in the fall of 1999, the MIT Wind Ensemble (21M.426) is comprised of undergraduate & graduate MIT students from a wide range of disciplines. Membership is open to students from other area colleges, but priority is given to MIT students. MITWE performs four concerts per year on the MIT campus and one off-campus. The central mission of the MIT Wind Ensemble is the enhancement of the musical education and artistic sensitivity of its members through study and performance of wind ensemble literature.