El Arte del Bolero

Miguel Zenón, MIT associate professor in jazz, brings his Grammy-winning project El Arte del Bolero to the MIT Thomas Tull Concert Hall on March 13, 2027, in collaboration with the MIT Wind Ensemble under director Frederick Harris Jr. The concert pairs Zenón’s saxophone with pianist Luís Perdomo, performing material from a project that earned them a Grammy Award and celebrates the Latin American songbook.

The performance is preceded by educational events open to the MIT and Boston communities, including a presentation and listening session about the Latin American songbook and a masterclass with Miguel Zenón and pianist Luís Perdomo.

Miguel Zenón is a Puerto Rican alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, music producer, and educator. He is a Grammy Award winner and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Doris Duke Artist Award. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree in the Arts from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón. Widely considered one of the most groundbreaking and influential saxophonists and composers of his generation, Zenón has released 18 albums and has collaborated with some of the great musicians and ensembles of his time, including The SFJAZZ Collective, Charlie Haden, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, David Sánchez, Danilo Perez, The Mingus Big Band, and Bobby Hutcherson. As a composer, Zenón has been commissioned by NYO Jazz, Chamber Music America, Logan Center for The Arts, The Hyde Park Jazz Festival, The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, MIT, Spektral Quartet, Miller Theater, The Hewlett Foundation, Peak Performances, PRISM Quartet, Kinetic Ensemble, and many of his peers. He has given hundreds of lectures and master classes at institutions all over the world and is an associate professor in the Music and Theater Arts section at MIT.

Biography: MIT Music and Theater Arts
Website: miguelzenon.com
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Grammy-winning pianist Luís Perdomo has released nine critically acclaimed recordings as a leader, and has appeared on over 250 recordings as a sideman. A native of Venezuela, Perdomo holds a bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a master’s degree from Queens College. He has performed and recorded with a wide variety of artists, such as Ravi Coltrane, Jerry Bergonzi, David Gilmore, Tom Harrell, Brian Lynch, Ray Barretto, Henry Threadgill, Ralph Irizarry, David Sanchez, The Cookers, George Garzone, and The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, among others. A founding member of the Miguel Zenón Quartet, which has released numerous recordings, Perdomo has also collaborated with Zenón on three duo recordings: El Arte del Bolero, which was nominated for both a Grammy and a Latin Grammy in 2022; El Arte del Bolero, Vol. 2, which received a 2024 Grammy Award; and El Arte del Bolero, Vol 3. In addition to keeping a busy performing schedule, Perdomo is active as a clinician and an educator. He has taught at Queens College in NYC, Berklee College of Music, and The New School, and is currently an associate professor of jazz piano at Oberlin Conservatory. He is also on the faculty of the “Jazz in July” summer program at UMass Amherst.

Website: luisperdomojazz.com 

Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr., is the director of Wind and Jazz Ensembles at MIT, where he serves as music director of the MIT Wind Ensemble and the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble and oversees the jazz chamber music programs, including three combos, the 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. He is also leading a project combining Brazilian music and environmental research, focused on the Amazon rainforest.

Harris has been highly active with public school students and music educators throughout his career, leading seminars, guest conducting, and coordinating enrichment events at MIT and beyond.

Biography: MIT Music and Theater Arts

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, composed primarily of outstanding MIT undergraduates and graduate students studying a wide range of disciplines within science, engineering, and the humanities. Its repertoire includes traditional works and new music for full wind ensembles, chamber winds, brass ensembles, percussion ensembles, and woodwind ensembles. MITWE has commissioned 55 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.

Website: MIT Wind Ensemble

Miguel Zenón, saxophone
Luís Perdomo, piano
Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr., Music Director of MIT Wind Ensemble

The El Arte del Bolero project is supported with a faculty grant from the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology, and the performance is co-presented with the MIT Music and Theater Arts section.