Saturday, November 6, 2021 / 8:00pm
Kresge Auditorium, MIT Building W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Featuring
MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble
Frederick Harris, Jr., Music Director & Project Creator/Leader
MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble
Laura Grill Jaye, Director
MIT Wind Ensemble
Frederick Harris, Jr., Music Director
Kenneth Amis, Assistant Conductor
Anat Cohen, clarinet
Sara Serpa, vocals
Evan Ziporyn, clarinet
Maritta R. von Bieberstein Koch-Weser, guest speaker
Talia Khan ’20, guest speaker
Genevieve Dempsey, guest speaker
Marcus Santos, percussion
With virtual performances from Amazonian artists: Djuena Tikuna, Ivan Tukano, Anacleto Tukano, and Ovídio Tukano
Água de Beber
(1963/2008)
Anat Cohen, clarinet
MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble
Antônio Carlos Jobim (1927-94)
arr. Michael Philip Mossman
O Boto
Sara Serpa, voice
Evan Ziporyn, bass clarinet
Arrangement World Premiere
Antônio Carlos Jobim (1927-94)
arr. Guillermo Klein
Folhas
Sara Serpa, voice
Peter Godart, piano, MIT Postdoc
Sara Serpa
Canoa, Canoa
(1977/2021)
MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble
Laura Grill Jaye, Director
Sara Serpa, voice
Nelson Angelo (b. 1949)
Fernando Brant (1946-2015)
arr. Luciana Souza
Amazônia 4.0: The Reset Begins
Carlos Nobre, PhD ’83
Nós Somos a Floresta
(We are the Forest)
Djuena Tikuna, voice
Evan Ziporyn and members of the MIT Wind Ensemble
Djuena Tikuna
“Transforming the Amazon“
Maritta Koch-Weser, Earth3000 Founder and President
“The Amazon: Leveraging the Earth’s Greatest Natural Resource for Social, Economic, and Environmental Benefit“
Talia Khan ’20
Bianca
Sara Serpa, voice
Anat Cohen, clarinet
Evan Ziporyn, bass clarinet
Arrangement World Premiere
Egberto Amin Gismonti (b. 1947)
arr. Guillermo Klein
Line Up
Anat Cohen, Bb clarinet and bass clarinet
Evan Ziporyn, bass clarinet
MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble rhythm section
Lennie Tristano (1919-78)
Corta Jaca
Anat Cohen, clarinet
Evan Ziporyn, bass clarinet
MIT Wind Ensemble clarinets
MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble rhythm section
Arrangement World Premiere
Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935)
arr. Evan Ziporyn
Footsteps and Smiles
Anat Cohen, clarinet
MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble
Arrangement World Premiere
Anat Cohen (b. 1979)
arr. Kevin Costello ’21
Trading Bows and Arrows for Laptops
Amazon Conservation Team
O Canto e Encanto
(The Song and Enchantment)
Ivan Tukano, Anacleto Tukano, Ovídio Tukano
Introduction by Genevieve Dempsey
Passarim
Sara Serpa, voice
MIT Wind Ensemble
MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble
MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble
Arrangement World Premiere
Antônio Carlos Jobim
arr. Guillermo Klein
Hermanos Latinos
Sara Serpa, voice
Anat Cohen, clarinet
Evan Ziporyn, bass clarinet
MIT Wind Ensemble
MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble
MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble
Performed in honor of
Hermeto Pascoal’s 85th Birthday
Hermeto Pascoal (b. 1936)
arr. Guillermo Klein
Created and led by MIT Sounding Co-Director Frederick Harris Jr., Hearing Amazônia–The Responsibility of Existence is inspired by Brazilian music influenced by the natural world and by 2020 MIT graduate Talia Khan’s research on natural botanical resins and traditional carimbó music in Santarém, Pará, Brazil. Khan’s research was made possible by a MIT-Brazil/MISTI Sun internship grant.
Building upon experiences with 2020-21 CAST Virtual Visiting Artists Luciana Souza and Anat Cohen, this multi-year project launched with a special concert drawing attention to the urgency of the climate crisis. Portugal-born vocalist-composer Sara Serpa and MIT Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music Evan Ziporyn joined an array of MIT musicians (MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, MIT Wind Ensemble, and MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble) to present a unique program of Brazilian music.
Biodiversity is the greatest treasure of Amazonian people and all Brazilians. A new path is possible (and most urgent) with ambitious science-based development of a standing-forest bioeconomy. The people living in this region look for sustainable social and economic progress. Renewed respect for Brazil’s environmental and indigenous protection legislation and building back nature on vast deforested lands could make a huge and positive difference. The reset has started.
– Maritta Koch-Weser
Frederick Harris, Jr., Music Director
Flute
Sara Simpson (G) CA
Clarinet
Erik Helstrom (G) NJ
Alto Saxophone
Andrew Li ‘25 NE
Hannah Savoldy ‘22 FL
Isias Workeneh ‘25 TX
Tenor Saxophone
Rachel Morgan (G) MD
Isaac Taylor ‘25 DC
Bari Saxophone
Brian Xiao ‘23 PA
Trumpet
Daniel Brown ‘25 SC
Emeka Echezona ‘24 NJ
German Espinosa ‘22 CA
Alejandro Gonzalez-Ayala ‘25 TX
Laura Grill Jaye, Affiliated Artist IL
Miles Kaming-Thanassi ‘23 NY
Trombone
Aaron Buede
Jeremy Duke
Michael Gerace
Bass Trombone
Ethan LaBelle ‘23 AZ
Piano
Peter Godart (G) NJ
Mike Jiang (G) Switzerland
Guitar
Sebastian Franjou (G) France
Richard Oates ‘18 MA
Xander Seguin ‘23 MA
Bass
Evan Boothe ‘25 OK
Dom Skinner (G) MA
Vibraphone
Diego Barros ‘25 FL
Sebastian Franjou (G) France
Drums
Alby Musaelian (Harvard) CO
The MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble (MIT FJE) was founded in 1963 by Boston jazz icon Herb Pomeroy and led since 1999 by Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr. This advanced 18 to 20-member big band/jazz ensemble is comprised of outstanding MIT undergraduate and graduate students studying a wide range of disciplines. An advanced combo is formed from the membership of the MIT FJE. MIT FJE performs traditional and contemporary jazz ensemble literature, including student compositions and new works written for the MIT FJE by major jazz composers. Improvisation is a prominent part of the MIT FJE experience. MIT FJE has released five professional recordings including its major jazz label debut on Sunnyside in 2015, Infinite Winds, which received a five-star review from DownBeat and was chosen by the magazine as one of its “Best Albums of 2015 Five-Star Masterpieces.”
The FJE has a long history of performing original music by MIT students and composers from around the world. Since 2001, it has presented over 50 world premieres. Among others, Mark Harvey, Herb Pomeroy, Jamshied Sharifi, Ran Blake, John Harbison, Chick Corea, Joe Lovano, Gunther and George Schuller, Kenny Werner, Don Byron, Steve Turre, Magali Souriau, Guillermo Klein, Chris Cheek, Miguel Zenón, Dominique Eade, and Luciana Souza have collaborated with the MIT FJE. In January of 2019 the FJE participated in a highly successful cultural exchange, touring Puerto Rico with Miguel Zenón, presenting concerts in various venues and also STEM workshops in middle and high schools.
Learn about the MIT FJE’s collaboration with Grammy-winner Jacob Collier in this Emmy-winning documentary. Watch the Emmy-nominated documentary The Great Clarinet Summit, featuring MIT FJE. See an overview of MIT FJE’s recent tour of Puerto Rico. Watch MIT FJE and Sean Jones perform an original composition by MIT student Alan Osmundson and Warren Wolf perform Heal! by MIT pianist-composer Peter Godart. MIT FJE participated in MIT’s 2021 virtual Commencement, performing Diary of a Pandemic Year.
For more information, visit mta.mit.edu/music/performance/festival-jazz-ensemble
Laura Grill Jaye, Director
Soprano
Autumn Geil ‘21 CA
Elsa Itambo IL
Alto
Quinn Brodsky TX
Emily Huang ‘22 WA
Sharon Opara-Ndudu ‘22 Nigeria
Brindha Rathinasabapathi ‘24 FL
Tenor
Adanna Abraham-Igwe ‘24 CA
Michael Peters (G) IN
Bass
Alex Boccon-Gibod ’22, (G) CA
Gabe Kane ‘21 VA
Junhee Lee ‘22 IA
Omar Santiago Reyes PR
The MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble (VJE) was founded by Institute Professor John Harbison in the spring of 2011 as the first and only vocal jazz performance group at the Institute. Boston-based vocalist-arranger-composer Laura Grill Jaye is the current director and coach of VJE, which has quickly risen to high recognition not only on campus but throughout Boston. Performance opportunities have included a professional recording with the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble of the MIT school song and “A Rhumba for Rafael Reif,” as well as an appearance with the Boston Pops at Boston’s Symphony Hall. Professor Harbison has arranged many pieces for VJE over the years.
VJE’s debut recording Vocal Jazz at MIT: Store-Bought Hair, was released in 2015. Past collaborations have included performances with Jacob Collier, Dominique Eade, and Luciana Souza. Under the direction of Laura Grill Jaye, VJE has participated and earned high praise in a special residency with Audra McDonald, and has collaborated and recorded with The MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble.
VJE sings ensemble and solo jazz music. It performs with jazz instrumentalists on and off campus, including a concert in Killian Hall at the end of each semester. The ensemble also offers members opportunities for arranging and songwriting. The MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble is coordinated and overseen by Dr. Fred Harris.
For more information, visit mta.mit.edu/music/performance/mit-vocal-jazz-ensemble
Frederick Harris, Jr., Music Director
Kenneth Amis, Assistant Conductor
Piccolo
Sara Simpson (G) CA
Charlotte Wickert ’23 CO
Flute
Corrina Berger ’25 ID
Vincent Lin ’24 NE
Lennie Ma ’24 NY
Hailey Quinn ’24 NJ
Sara Simpson (G) CA
Charlotte Wickert ’23 CO
Oboe
Crista Falk ’23 ID
Michelle Kornberg ’20 MA
Kathryn Kummel ’25 CO
English Horn
Kathryn Kummel ’25 CO
Eb Clarinet
Nathan Ramesh ‘23 MA
Iris Shi ’25 CT
Clarinet
Andy Huang ’13 CA
Katie Kitzinger ’24 MD
Preeti Krishnamani ’23 DE
Jenny Li ’24 VA
Kayla O’Donnell ’25 MI
Nicholas Ortiz ’23 IL
Andi Qu ’25 South Africa
Nathan Ramesh ‘23 MA
Iris Shi ’25 CT
Lawrence Shi ’25 VA
Daniel Zeng ’25 VA
Jason Zhang ’25 KY
Bass Clarinet
Richard Chen ’25 MA
Bassoon
Mitali Chowdhury ’24 CA
Susannah Kelsey
Soprano Saxophone
Isabel Honda (G) CA
Alto Saxophone
Yasin Hamed ’24 TX
Isabel Honda (G) CA
Madison Wang ’25 NY
Tenor Saxophone
Antoine Vigouroux (Harvard) France
Baritone Saxophone
Rachel Morgan (G) MD
Trumpet
Daniel Brown ’25 SC
German Espinosa ’22 CA
Alejandro Gonzalez-Ayala ’25 TX
Haeri Kim ’24 HI
Junhee Lee ’22 IA
Armando Moncada ’24 IL
Daina Neithardt ’25 PA
Morgan Schaefer ’24 NY
French Horn
Madison Bronnimann ’24 IL
Eliana Lentok
Samantha Rencher ’24 AZ
Scott Stransky ‘05/’07 CT
Keianna Wen
Trombone
Aaron Buede
Laura Koemmpel ’19 CA
Timothy Nguyen ’24 CA
Bass Trombone
Christos Kakoutas (G) CYP
Ethan LaBelle ‘23 AZ
Euphonium
John San Soucie (G) TX
Linnaea Uliassi ’24 AK
Tuba
Frederick Ajisafe ’23 FL
Pranav Krishna ’23 NJ
Percussion
Lisa Blomberg ’23 OR
Caroline Boone ’22 MD
Katherine Miner ’24 NY
Arianna Otoo ’25 NJ
Katherine Reisig ’24 NE
Rila Shishido ’23 Japan
Frank Wang ’24 NJ
Piano/Celeste
Claire Southard ’25 MO
Founded by Music Director Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr. in the fall of 1999, the MIT Wind Ensemble (MITWE) is one of the most innovative ensembles of its kind. Comprised primarily of outstanding MIT undergraduates and graduate students studying a wide range of disciplines within science, engineering, and the humanities. Repertoire includes outstanding traditional works and new music for full wind ensemble, chamber winds, brass ensemble, percussion ensemble, and woodwind ensembles. MITWE has commissioned 45 original works from many prominent composers. MIT Affiliated Artist, renowned composer, and tuba player of the Empire Brass, Kenneth Amis, is the Assistant Conductor of MITWE.
MITWE has been featured on NPR and was the subject of the 2014 Emmy-winning documentary Awakening: Evoking the Arab Spring Through Music, aired on PBS. MITWE is also featured in the 2019 Emmy-nominated documentary The Great Clarinet Summit, and Call and Response: Creativity at MIT. MITWE’s joint recording with the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, Infinite Winds, received a five-star review from DownBeat and was chosen by the magazine as one of its “Best Albums of 2015 Five-Star Masterpieces” — the first such recognition of its kind for a collegiate wind ensemble. The Boston Globe called the recording “one of the most compelling of 2015.”
Throughout its 21-year history, MITWE has collaborated with elementary, middle and high school students throughout Massachusetts. In March of 2019, MITWE embarked on its first tour, spending a week in the Dominican Republic, presenting four concerts, many STEAM presentations for middle, high school and college students, and premiering the eco-music piece In Praise Of The Humpback.
In May of 2020, MITWE had the honor of opening MIT’s virtual Commencement with To The Light, To The Flame. MITWE also participated in MIT’s 2021 virtual Commencement, performing Diary Of A Pandemic Year.
For more information, visit mta.mit.edu/music/performance/mit-wind-ensemble
Grammy-nominated clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. The Jazz Journalists Association has voted Anat as Clarinetist of the Year ten years in a row, and she has topped both the Critics and Readers Polls in the clarinet category in DownBeat magazine every year since 2011. That’s not to mention years of being named Rising Star in the soprano and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat, as well as for Jazz Artist of the Year. In 2009, ASCAP awarded Anat a Wall of Fame prize for composition and musicianship, among other honors. In 2018, she was nominated for two Grammy awards: The Best Latin Jazz Album for Outra Coisa – The Music of Moacir Santos, a collaboration with Marcello Gonçalves, and The Best World Music Album for Rosa Dos Ventos, a collaboration with Trio Brasileiro.
For more information, visit arts.mit.edu/people/anat-cohen
An ethnomusicologist of colonial and modern Latin America, Genevieve Dempsey is a lecturer in the Music and Theater Arts Department at MIT. Genevieve received her Ph.D. from the Department of Music at the University of Chicago. She completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Reed Foundation and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research of Harvard University. Dr. Dempsey adores teaching and her research is published in Ethnomusicology, The Yale Journal of Music & Religion (YJMR), Transition: The Magazine of Africa and the Diaspora, ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America and forthcoming in The Musical Quarterly.
For more information, visit mta.mit.edu/person/genevieve-dempsey
Born and raised outside of Chicago, Laura Grill Jaye grew up with an appetite for picking up instruments… and the inability to put them down. In seemingly no time this translated to a personal investment in the study and creation of new music. Laura traded the heartland for the coast and moved to Boston in 2008. In the company of Crooked Still, Joy Kills Sorrow and Sarah Jarosz, Grill found her voice at the New England Conservatory. Amongst the crowd of conservatory musicians, Laura assembled her eclectic band of Tucker Antell (Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone), Matt Consul (Viola, Violin, Mandolin) and Brad Barrett (Bass, Cello). Although clearly infused with Jazz and Classical sensibilities the Laura Grill Band sound is undeniably folk. Reflective lyrics are combined with tastes of chamber music, improvisation, and four-part harmonies to create a sound that is uncatalogued. “Never Before,” the debut album from the Laura Grill Band, was released to much acclaim. The collection of intimate songs was recorded one-hundred percent live in a picturesque snowy cabin in New Hampshire.
For more information, visit mta.mit.edu/person/laura-grill-jaye or www.lauragrilljaye.com
Frederick Harris, Jr. is the Director of Wind and Jazz Ensembles at MIT, where he serves as Music Director of the MIT Wind Ensemble, MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, and Jazz Coordinator, overseeing jazz chamber music programs including three combos, MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and the Emerson Jazz Scholars Program. Harris is also the creator and director of It Must Be Now!, a project creating music and visual art on themes of racial justice.
For more information, visit mta.mit.edu/person/fred-harris
Talia Khan earned Bachelor’s degrees in Materials Science & Engineering and Music from MIT in 2020. She is planning to go to Brazil in February of 2022 to study Amazonian plants through a Fulbright research grant, and will be returning to MIT to obtain her MS/PhD in Mechanical Engineering in the fall of 2022. She is passionate about sustainable materials production and focuses her research efforts on harnessing the incredible properties of plants found in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest to create greener materials. Talia studied classical voice and performed in many musical theatre productions in her hometown of Phoenix, AZ. She began studying and performing jazz voice at MIT through the Emerson Jazz Fellowship, under the tutelage of esteemed composer John Harbison.
A composer, arranger, pianist, and occasional singer, Guillermo Klein began his craft in childhood in Argentina. When his father gave him a piano at age 11, he promptly began writing songs, inspired by the legendary Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla. Klein attended Berklee College of Music, where his intention to study classical music gave way to his passion for jazz. His colleagues at Berklee—many of whom came from South America—provided the framework for what would eventually become Klein’s main musical voice, the Big Van large ensemble (later called Los Guachos). After graduating from Berklee, Klein moved to New York City and quickly became associated with Smalls, a jazz club where he established a weekly engagement with his 17-piece Big Van band. Smalls was critical in fostering young artists that would ultimately be some of the most influential voices of modern jazz.
For more information, visit arts.mit.edu/people/guillermo-klein
Maritta Koch-Weser has a distinguished career spanning more than three decades in international development as an anthropologist and environmentalist. She has field experience in Latin America, South and East Asia, and in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and some countries of the Former Soviet Union. She has led major environmental and social assessment tasks, as well as investment programs in the environment, agriculture, forestry, mining, energy, and urban-industrial sectors.
Maritta Koch-Weser is Founder and President of Earth3000. As a non-profit organization founded in 2001, Earth3000 supports strategic innovations in governance for environment and development. Since 2009, Dr. Koch-Weser also leads the “Amazonia em Transformação: História e Perspectivas” program at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. In this context she spearheads work on the establishment of the world’s first Rainforest Business School. Maritta Koch-Weser holds a 1975 Ph.D. from the Universities of Bonn and Cologne, Germany, and a 2010 Honorary Doctorate from Oxford Brookes University, UK.
For more information, visit wilsoncenter.org/person/maritta-koch-weser
The MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble (MIT FJE) was founded in 1963 by Boston jazz icon Herb Pomeroy and led since 1999 by Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr. This advanced 18 to 20-member big band/jazz ensemble is comprised of outstanding MIT undergraduate and graduate students studying a wide range of disciplines. An advanced combo is formed from the membership of the MIT FJE. MIT FJE performs traditional and contemporary jazz ensemble literature, including student compositions and new works written for the MIT FJE by major jazz composers. Improvisation is a prominent part of the MIT FJE experience. MIT FJE has released five professional recordings including its major jazz label debut on Sunnyside in 2015, Infinite Winds, which received a five-star review from DownBeat and was chosen by the magazine as one of its “Best Albums of 2015 Five-Star Masterpieces.”
The FJE has a long history of performing original music by MIT students and composers from around the world. Since 2001, it has presented over 50 world premieres. Among others, Mark Harvey, Herb Pomeroy, Jamshied Sharifi, Ran Blake, John Harbison, Chick Corea, Joe Lovano, Gunther and George Schuller, Kenny Werner, Don Byron, Steve Turre, Magali Souriau, Guillermo Klein, Chris Cheek, Miguel Zenón, Dominique Eade, and Luciana Souza have collaborated with the MIT FJE. In January of 2019 the FJE participated in a highly successful cultural exchange, touring Puerto Rico with Miguel Zenón, presenting concerts in various venues and also STEM workshops in middle and high schools.
Learn about the MIT FJE’s collaboration with Grammy-winner Jacob Collier in this Emmy-winning documentary. Watch the Emmy-nominated documentary The Great Clarinet Summit, featuring MIT FJE. See an overview of MIT FJE’s recent tour of Puerto Rico. Watch MIT FJE and Sean Jones perform an original composition by MIT student Alan Osmundson and Warren Wolf perform Heal! by MIT pianist-composer Peter Godart. MIT FJE participated in MIT’s 2021 virtual Commencement, performing Diary of a Pandemic Year.
For more information, visit mta.mit.edu/music/performance/festival-jazz-ensemble
The MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble (VJE) was founded by Institute Professor John Harbison in the spring of 2011 as the first and only vocal jazz performance group at the Institute. Boston-based vocalist-arranger-composer Laura Grill Jaye is the current director and coach of VJE, which has quickly risen to high recognition not only on campus but throughout Boston. Performance opportunities have included a professional recording with the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble of the MIT school song and “A Rhumba for Rafael Reif,” as well as an appearance with the Boston Pops at Boston’s Symphony Hall. Professor Harbison has arranged many pieces for VJE over the years.
VJE’s debut recording Vocal Jazz at MIT: Store-Bought Hair, was released in 2015. Past collaborations have included performances with Jacob Collier, Dominique Eade, and Luciana Souza. Under the direction of Laura Grill Jaye, VJE has participated and earned high praise in a special residency with Audra McDonald, and has collaborated and recorded with The MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble.
VJE sings ensemble and solo jazz music. It performs with jazz instrumentalists on and off campus, including a concert in Killian Hall at the end of each semester. The ensemble also offers members opportunities for arranging and songwriting. The MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble is coordinated and overseen by Dr. Fred Harris.
For more information, visit mta.mit.edu/music/performance/mit-vocal-jazz-ensemble
Founded by Music Director Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr. in the fall of 1999, the MIT Wind Ensemble (MITWE) is one of the most innovative ensembles of its kind. Comprised primarily of outstanding MIT undergraduates and graduate students studying a wide range of disciplines within science, engineering, and the humanities. Repertoire includes outstanding traditional works and new music for full wind ensemble, chamber winds, brass ensemble, percussion ensemble, and woodwind ensembles. MITWE has commissioned 45 original works from many prominent composers. MIT Affiliated Artist, renowned composer, and tuba player of the Empire Brass, Kenneth Amis, is the Assistant Conductor of MITWE.
MITWE has been featured on NPR and was the subject of the 2014 Emmy-winning documentary Awakening: Evoking the Arab Spring Through Music, aired on PBS. MITWE is also featured in the 2019 Emmy-nominated documentary The Great Clarinet Summit, and Call and Response: Creativity at MIT. MITWE’s joint recording with the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, Infinite Winds, received a five-star review from DownBeat and was chosen by the magazine as one of its “Best Albums of 2015 Five-Star Masterpieces” — the first such recognition of its kind for a collegiate wind ensemble. The Boston Globe called the recording “one of the most compelling of 2015.”
Throughout its 21-year history, MITWE has collaborated with elementary, middle and high school students throughout Massachusetts. In March of 2019, MITWE embarked on its first tour, spending a week in the Dominican Republic, presenting four concerts, many STEAM presentations for middle, high school and college students, and premiering the eco-music piece In Praise Of The Humpback.
In May of 2020, MITWE had the honor of opening MIT’s virtual Commencement with To The Light, To The Flame. MITWE also participated in MIT’s 2021 virtual Commencement, performing Diary Of A Pandemic Year.
For more information, visit mta.mit.edu/music/performance/mit-wind-ensemble
A native of Lisbon, Portugal, Sara Serpa is a singer, composer, and improviser. Through her practice and performance, she explores the use of the voice as an instrument. Serpa has been working in the field of jazz—improvised and experimental music—since moving to New York in 2008. Described by The New York Times as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook,” and by the JazzTimes magazine as “a master of wordless landscapes,” Serpa started her recording and performing career with jazz luminaries such as Grammy-nominated pianist Danilo Perez, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow pianist Ran Blake, and Greg Osby. Her ethereal music draws from a broad variety of inspirations including literature, film, and visual arts, as well as history and nature.
For more information, visit saraserpa.com
Brazilian-born vocalist and Grammy winner Luciana Souza is a major figure in the worlds of vocal jazz and Latin music. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Souza’s work transcends traditional boundaries around musical styles. Entertainment Weekly writes, “Her voice traces a landscape of emotion that knows no boundaries.” Souza has been releasing acclaimed recordings since 2002—including her six Grammy-nominated records, Brazilian Duos, North and South, Duos II, Tide, Duos III, and The Book of Chet. Her latest offering, Speaking in Tongues, is a brilliant collaboration with Lionel Loueke, Gregoire Maret, Massimo Biolcati, and Kendrick Scott. Souza has been a prominent soloist in important works by composers Osvaldo Golijov, Derek Bermel, and Patrick Zimmeri, performing with the New York Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the American Composers Orchestra. Souza began her recording career at age three with a radio commercial. She spent four years at Berklee College of Music where she received a Bachelor’s in Jazz Composition. Souza earned a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies from the New England Conservatory of Music and taught for four years at the Manhattan School of Music. She has twice been named Best Female Jazz Singer by the Jazz Journalists Association, in 2005 and 2013.
For more information, visit arts.mit.edu/people/luciana-souza
Djuena Tikuna is a musician, actor, journalist, and activist from the Tikuna people. Born in Umariaçu in the Alto Solimões region of Brazil, she now lives in Manaus.
For more information, visit djuenatikuna.com
Ivan Tukano is a musician specializing in the kariçu flute. Born and raised in the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous region, he now lives in Manaus.
Evan Ziporyn (b. 1959, Chicago) makes music at the crossroads between genres and cultures, east and west. He studied at Eastman, Yale & UC Berkeley with Joseph Schwantner, Martin Bresnick, and Gerard Grisey. He first traveled to Bali in 1981, studying with Madé Lebah, Colin McPhee’s 1930s musical informant and returned on a Fulbright in 1987. He is Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music at MIT the Faculty Director of the MIT Center for Art Science and Technology.
For more information, visit arts.mit.edu/evan-ziporyn
Lyrics and translations provided for O Boto, Canoa, Canoa, Nós Somos a Floresta, O Canto e Encanto, and Passarim. Download the PDF.
MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST)
CAST creates new opportunities for art, science, and technology to thrive as interrelated, mutually informing modes of exploration, knowledge, and discovery. CAST’s multidisciplinary platform presents performing and visual arts programs, supports research projects for artists working with science and engineering labs, and sponsors symposia, classes, workshops, design studios, lectures, and publications. The Center is funded in part by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
For more information, please contact cast@mit.edu or visit arts.mit.edu/cast
MIT Music and Theater Arts (MTA)
The Music and Theater Arts Section of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences annually affords 1,500 students per year the opportunity to experience the unique language and process of the performing arts. Faculty and teaching staff, informed by their ongoing professional activities, help students understand art’s demand for rigor and discipline and its non-quantitative standards of excellence and beauty.
For more information, please contact mta@mit.edu or visit mta.mit.edu
MISTI MIT-Brazil
The MIT-Brazil Program is one of the 25+ country, regional, or thematic programs that are part of MIT’s International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI). The MISTI programs work across departments, centers, and labs throughout the Institute to enable immersive, impactful learning experiences and research opportunities for students and faculty alike. Whether it’s creating one-of-a-kind student programs, fueling partnerships between researchers, or serving as an enabling partner for exciting programs across the Institute, MISTI delivers the training, resources, insights, and expertise that make it possible for MIT students and faculty to learn from the world and with it. In 12 years the MIT-Brazil Program has facilitated more than 420 placements of MIT students in Brazil in teaching, research, and industry projects, and funded 80 grants fostering collaborations between MIT faculty and Brazilian researchers.
For more information, visit misti.mit.edu/mit-brazil
We’re Still Here! – Festival Jazz Ensemble
November, 13, 2021
Beethoven 9 – MIT Symphony Orchestra, MIT Concert Choir, New World Chorale
November 19, 2021
Magnificat – MIT Concert Choir
November 20, 2021
7th Annual PRISM Concert Spectacular
December 3, 2021
Iva Bittová in Concert
February 25, 2022
VALIS: Work-in-Progress Showing
February 2022
Special thanks to Laura Grill Jaye, Kenneth Amis, the staff of MTA (Luis Cuco Daglio, Michelle Carmichael, Lauren Dickel, Andy Wilds), CAST and Arts at MIT (Lydia Brosnahan, Heidi Erickson, Liz Keller-Tripp, Ethan Nevidomsky, Leah Talatinian, Susan Wilson, Directors Leila Kinney and Evan Ziporyn), Rosabelli Coelho-Keyssar and Marco de Paula from MISTI MIT-Brazil, Anthony DiBartolo, and all of the students and student leaders of MITWE, MIT FJE, and MIT VJE. Many thanks to project contributors Genevieve Dempsey, Luciana Souza, Anat Cohen, Guillermo Klein, Sara Serpa, Maritta Koch-Weser, Talia Khan, Marcus Santos, Marcelo Gonçalves, and Fernando Huergo. Thanks to Fábio Eremita, Mestre Chico Malta, Nanayna, Djuena Tikuna, and Ivan Tukano.