All Performances Archives

Ekene Ijeoma, featuring Dr. Kristín Taylor, Dr. Bryan Stanley, Deconstructed Anthems: Nebraska 12 (2015) 2021. Software-generated score, incarceration data, piano, machine-plotted ink drawings, duration 18:12 min. Installation view, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE, USA Photo by Colin Conces courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Art.

Deconstructed Anthems: Massachusetts

Sonifying the increasing loss of Black Americans to carceral systems

Clarice Assad sings with MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble at Hearing Amazonia performance in March 2023. Credit: Caroline Alden.

MIT Sounding 2022-23

Contemporary music with a global cast The 2022–23 season of the innovative annual performance series MIT Sounding continues to expand musical boundaries. MIT Sounding presents unique artists who push the envelope of their respective genres, creating new evolving music for the 21st century. … Continued

Clarice Assad. Courtesy of the artist. Credit: Marcelo Macaue.

Clarice Assad

Digital rendering of translucent human tree-like forms against a black background.

One of the augmented-reality motifs in the new production of “Parsifal” at Bayreuth, directed by Jay Scheib. Credit: Bayreuth Festival

Parsifal

Augmenting Richard Wagner’s Bühnenweihfestspiel, Parsifal

Pianist Maki Namekawa in a leather jacket looking into the camera.

Maki Namekawa, Credit: Andreas H. Bitesnich

Maki Namekawa Presents Philip Glass, Keith Jarrett, Joe Hisaishi, Evan Ziporyn

Sean Jones, Jazz at the Bistro. Courtesy of the artist.

Sean Jones

Under the auspices of CAST’s MIT Sounding series, It Must Be Now!, led by Fred Harris, brings together three leading musicians to collectively compose a large-scale work for MIT musicians on the overall theme of racial justice.

Braxton Cook. Credit Tom Van Scoyoc.

Braxton Cook

Terri Lyne Carrington. Credit: Jacobs.

Terri Lyne Carrington

A black and white photograph of Fabio Tavares (right) observing fellow performer Natalia deCampos (left) looking away from him, down to the left.

Natalia deCampos and Fabio Tavares perform in a workshop of Immense Joy/Hots. Credit: Ana Busto.

Immense Joy / H.o.t.S

Clarice Lispector’s brutal and tender exploration of what it truly means to be poor

2023 Hearing Amazonia

Hearing Amazônia–The Responsibility of Existence

Exploring the plight of the natural world through Brazilian and Amazonian music

VALIS. Courtesy of Tod Machover.

VALIS

Reimagining live performance interactivity for a new generation

Front Porch Collective

A black theatre company committed to advancing racial equity in Boston through theater

Lion's Jaw. Courtesy of the artists.

Lion’s Jaw

Creating an environment where risk, rigor, and rebellion can flourish through dance

As part of the 2019-20 MIT Sounding series, Lochan Rijal, an award winning multi-instrumentalist singer and songwriter from Nepal, performed a public concert of Nepali music featuring original compositions played on traditional Nepali instruments. Photo by Caroline Aldenr. Please ask before use.

Lochan Rijal

Sharing the rich heritage of traditional Nepalese music

Lakaï Dance Theatre. Credit: Nadelle Scott.

Lakaï Dance’s The Block: An Afro-Musical

Sharing personal stories and narratives through movement

Iva Bittová. Courtesy of the artist.

Iva Bittová

Czech avant-garde violinist, singer, and composer

Glenn Branca. Credit: Maria Jose Govea.

Glenn Branca Ensemble

Honoring a pioneer of the avant-garde

Harry Allen. Courtesy of the Artist.

Harry Allen and Rob Swift

MIT hosts harbanger, a battle DJ septet

Jay Scheib, The Silence, 2019. Credit: Jay Scheib.

Jay Scheib’s The Silence

Dream worlds collide with real worlds in an endless spiral down

Constanza Macras. Credit: Thomas Aurin.

Constanza Macras

Building dance theater from the ground up

Maya Beiser and Wendy Whelan perform The Day at Jacobs Pillow. Credit: Hayim Heron. Courtesy of Jacobs Pillow.

The Day

Artists collaborate on a sensory exploration of life and the eternal

Jay Scheib's In the Jungle of Cities. Courtesy of the artist.

Jay Scheib’s In the Jungle of Cities

CAST Visiting Artist Billy Novick performs in The Great Clarinet Summit. Credit: Sham Sthankiya/MIT.

Billy Novick

"Sincerity... elegance... a lovely celebration of tunefulness" — Downbeat

David Bowie's Blackstar performed by Maya Beiser with the Ambient Orchestra, 2017.

2018-19 MIT Sounding

Contemporary music with a global cast

The 2018–19 season of the innovative annual performance series MIT Sounding continues to blur musical boundaries. Curated by Evan Ziporyn, faculty director of the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST), this season of MIT Sounding presents unique artists who push the envelope of their respective genres, creating new evolving music for the 21st century.

Anat Cohen

A virtuoso widely recognized as one of the most vital clarinetists working today