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. This season is curated by Evan Ziporyn, faculty director of the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST).
MIT Sounding is presented by the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology and MIT Music and Theater Arts.
88 for 88: A Global Online Real-Time Celebration of Terry Riley’s 88th Birthday
Saturday, June 24, 2023 / Midnight (12:00am EST / 4am GMT)
Hosted virtually by ContaQt
Free and open to the public
On the occasion of Terry Riley’s 88th birthday, MIT Sounding and ContaQt hosted a celebratory event that reverberated across the globe. A community of 88 talented musicians hailing from six continents assembled for an unforgettable virtual concert, paying homage to the legendary composer through a mesmerizing real-time performance of Poppy@88, a collective composition arranged by MIT Sounding curator Evan Ziporyn based on Riley’s 1967 masterpiece, Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band.
With Terry Riley himself watching from the Art Tower in Mito, Japan, the global virtual event took place in 64 distinct locations. Canadian composer/sound artist Jeff Morton mixed the 88 streams in real time. Among the performers were Maya Beiser, Claire Chase, Dennis Russell Davies, Paul Dresher, Arnold Dreyblatt, Victor Gama, Lihi Haruvi, Colin Jacobsen, Joan Jeanrenaud, Jaron Lanier, Maki Namekawa, John Oswald, Kala Ramnath, Gyan Riley, Tracy Silverman, and Vân-Ánh Võ.
Hearing Amazônia: Commission Premiere, Amazônia sem lei
March 11, 2023 / 8:00pm
MIT Kresge Auditorium, W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Inspired by Brazilian music influenced by the natural world and Hearing Amazônia, featuring the world premiere of Amazônia Sem Lei (“Lawless Amazon”) by Grammy-nominated Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad, this special concert continues the Hearing Amazônia—The Responsibility of Existence project launched in the fall of 2021 by Frederick Harris Jr. and comes weeks before MIT Wind Ensemble, MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, and MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble travel to Manaus, Brazil.
Assad’s new work features violinist and MIT professor Natalie Lin Douglas and Assad herself. The concert also includes Antônio Carlos Jobim’s Passarim, Hermeto Pascoal’s Hermanos Latinos, Chiquinha Gonzaga’s Corta Jaca, and Drill by composer/bass clarinetist Evan Ziporyn.
Concert: Pamela Z with People
April 19, 2023 / 5:30pm
MIT Media Lab Multipurpose Room, 6th floor
75 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA, USA
Pamela Z performs a selection of her compositions ranging from early groundbreaking works to recently premiered ensemble pieces with pianist Sarah Cahill, violinist Kate Stenberg, flutist and MIT student Sara Simpson, and Evan Ziporyn conducting.
The program includes “Presence,” “Summons,” and a suite of works for solo voice and electronics.