Contemporary music with a global cast
Launched in 2014, 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.
Gamelan Showdown: A Balinese Battle of the Bands
Saturday, March 21, 2026 / 3:30pm
Thomas Tull Concert Hall, MIT Building W18
201 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
Two leading American gamelan ensembles – MIT’s own Gamelan Galak Tika and Queens College’s Gamelan Yowana Sari – come together for the first time for a Balinese mebarung (literally: ‘melody competition’), a joint concert in MIT’s stunning Thomas Tull Hall.
The program offers a retrospective of Evan Ziporyn’s genre-bending works for gamelan, spanning three decades of cross-cultural exploration and collaboration. Galak Tika revives Amok! (1996, for gamelan, bass, and electronics), and Aradhana (2004/16, for gamelan and koto/shamisen), featuring the return of the masterful Sumie Kaneko, a frequent MIT Sounding guest artist. Yowana Sari, making their Boston-area debut and celebrating the release of their new album on Cantaloupe Music, performs Ziporyn’s aERIFoRm kITE (2024, for gamelan, 8-string guitar, and 7-string bass), along with new works by Kyle Miller and Theo Merigeau.
Come for the music and stay for a light reception afterward, celebrating the release of Yowana Sari’s new album and the creative ties between these two communities of musicians.
More information about the program
Explore Past Seasons of MIT Sounding
2022-23 MIT Sounding
On the occasion of Terry Riley’s 88th birthday, MIT Sounding and ContaQt hosted a celebratory event that reverberated across the globe. The season also included a performance by 2022 Eugene McDermott Award Recipient Pamela Z, and the return of Hearing Amazônia, featuring the world premiere of Amazônia Sem Lei (“Lawless Amazon”) by Grammy-nominated Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad.
2021-22 MIT Sounding
Featuring performances by Maki Namekawa, a leading pianist dedicated to exploring new works by composers on a global scale; Czech avant-garde violinist, singer, and composer Iva Bittová; 2020-21 CAST Virtual Visiting Artists Luciana Souza and Anat Cohen; Portugal-born vocalist-composer Sara Serpa; and MIT Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music Evan Ziporyn along with an array of MIT musicians (MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, MIT Wind Ensemble, and MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble). The 2021-22 season also included It Must Be Now! (IMBN!), a performance that brought together three leading musicians (Terri Lyne Carrington, Braxton Cook, and Sean Jones) to collectively compose a large-scale work for MIT musicians on the overall theme of racial justice.
Previous in MIT Sounding
Curated by Evan Ziporyn, Faculty Director of the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology, the series integrates the avant-garde sounds of ancient instruments and traditional practices with cutting-edge composition and technology to present various visions of a new, evolving music that defies genre.
Since the series was inaugurated in 2014, MIT Sounding has featured world premieres, reconstructed classics, and Grammy Award-winning musicians in a concert series