Ever wonder what opera sounds like? Are you an opera or classical music fanatic who is curious if MIT students can sing Verdi? Ever wondered where the famous tune La donna è mobile came from?

EPSG:4326

Pocket Opera Productions presents Rigoletto

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Join us for an enchanting evening of music at the Vocal Jazz Group Recital, presented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This special event is set to take place on May 18, 2024, at 7:00 pm in the esteemed Killian Hall. The recital is a celebration of jazz music, featuring performances by the talented Emerson/Harris Jazz vocalists, including Brindha Rathinasabapathi '24, Emily Jin '25, Andrea Marcano-Delgado, G, Autumn Geil, G, and Reuben Fuchs '25.

This event is free and open to the public, offering a unique opportunity to experience the vibrant and soulful performances of MIT's jazz vocalists. Whether you're a jazz aficionado or new to the genre, this recital promises an evening of captivating music that will leave you mesmerized.

For those unable to attend in person, the recital will also be available via livestream. Don't miss this chance to support and enjoy the incredible talent of MIT's vocal jazz ensemble.

Mark your calendars for May 18, 2024, and join us at Killian Hall for an unforgettable night of jazz music.

Vocal Jazz Group Recital

MITHAS seeks to enrich our environment and endow our children with the benefits of regular exposure to this great heritage. Join together to create a society for the preservation and presentation of these arts to our community and the greater New England area.

MITHAS presents: Carnatic Vocal

**Middle Eastern Ensemble Spring Concert at MIT**

**Date & Time:** May 16, 2024, 08:00 PM  
**Venue:** Killian Hall, Massachusetts Institute of Technology  
**Admission:** Free and Open to the Public  

Join us for an enchanting evening of music as the Middle Eastern Ensemble, under the direction of Garo Saraydarian, presents its Spring concert. This special performance is scheduled for Thursday, May 16th, at 8pm in the prestigious Killian Hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Middle Eastern Ensemble is renowned for its captivating performances that showcase the rich musical traditions of the Middle East. Under the skilled leadership of Garo Saraydarian, the ensemble brings together a diverse group of talented musicians, promising an evening filled with mesmerizing melodies and rhythms.

This event is free and open to the public, offering a unique opportunity to experience the beauty and complexity of Middle Eastern music. Whether you are a long-time aficionado or new to the genre, this concert is sure to provide an unforgettable experience.

Don't miss this chance to immerse yourself in the vibrant sounds of the Middle Eastern Ensemble. Mark your calendar for May 16th and join us at Killian Hall for an evening of exceptional music.

Middle Eastern Ensemble

An afternoon of music and dance from Bali, featuring the world premiere of Daniel Villagran's ('24) Metallosphere for gamelan and percussion.

A Spring Balinese Gamelan Concert

MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble: Celebrating the Greats

MIT's Black Theater Guild is hosting a showcase of student-created work from artists across the Institute and Harvard. We'll be displaying art from a variety of media, spanning film, fashion, photography and theater. The event will begin at 6:30pm with a reception featuring a photo exhibition, live DJ set and a musical performance, after which we'll view original short films and a play in the theater.

young Black voices

Sophie Sun is a junior at MIT majoring in Course 6-9 (Computer Science and Neuroscience)and currently studies piano with Heng-Jin Park through the MIT Emerson/Harris Scholars program. She started her music studies first as a guzheng (Chinese zither) player, but switched to classical piano at age 12 after her family’s move from China to New Zealand. This transition was originally inspired by her younger brother. She has been in love with the instrument and classical music ever since then.

Sophie Sun '25, piano

Charlotte Wickert is an MEng student at MIT in the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department where she conducts research in the Computation Reactor Physics Group (CPRG). She currently studies flute with Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin through the MIT Emerson Scholars program.

Charlotte Wickert (G), flute

This special event brings together the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble with rappers from MLK Visiting Prof. Jaco's (aka Lupe Fiasco) "Rap Theory and Practice” class along with Hip-Hop dancers from MIT and surrounding communities led by MIT’s McKersin, for an innovative amalgam of big band jazz, rap, and dance. Special guests include Hamilton-Garrett Center for Music & Arts Drumline and Youth Choir and members of FaMLE (MIT’s Laptop Ensemble). The concert includes music by J.J. Johnson, Chick Corea, Guillermo Klein, Horace Silver, Lupe Fiasco, and MIT students Andrew Li, Matthew Michalek, Mike Jiang, Michael Peters, Noble Harasha, Nina Musuelli, and Artem Laptiev.

Fresh—Jazz, Rap, and Hip-Hop @ MIT

In spring of 2023, Senior Lecturers Dan Safer and Ken Urban devised a dance theater piece based around SLOW VIOLENCE, the latest album by experimental synthpop band Occurrence, with 16 undergraduate and graduate performers from MIT, Boston University and Harvard University. Filmmaker Brian Truglio was there to document the show.

A Screening of SLOW VIOLENCE

Jazz Advanced Music Performance (AMP) Concert

Jazz AMP Concert

Presented by the MIT Chamber Music Society Recital Series

MIT Chamber Music Society Concert

Directed by master Senegalese drummer Lamine Touré, Rambax MIT is an ensemble dedicated to learning the art of sabar, a vibrant drum and dance tradition of the Wolof people of Senegal, West Africa. Rambax is open to MIT students, faculty, staff and alumni. New members are accepted in the fall and spring semesters. Students must pre-register for 21M.460 and attend auditions. For further information, contact: Patty Tang (Faculty Advisor to Rambax) at pjtang@mit.edu.

Rambax MIT Spring Show

Kendall/MIT Open Space

Funded by the late Mr. Cherry L. Emerson, Jr. (SM, 1941) in response to an appeal from Associate Provost Ellen T. Harris, Class of 1949 Professor Emeritus of Music, the Emerson/Harris Program (E/HP) offers merit-based financial grants for private lesson study in music to MIT students of outstanding achievement on their instruments or voice in classical, jazz or world music. Each academic year, the Emerson/Harris program awards half or full stipends to cover the cost of lessons to nearly fifty applicants who commit to a full year’s study and participate in the musical life of the MIT community. Subject credit may be obtained commensurate with the project options. Private teacher selections, made in consultation with the music faculty, may include instructors from MIT staff and throughout Greater Boston.

Emerson/Harris Strings Group Recital

Immerse yourself in the soul-stirring melodies of Carnatic music! Join us for an enchanting evening as our talented student ensemble takes you on a journey through the rich traditions of South Indian classical music. Experience the intricate rhythms, mesmerizing ragas, and breathtaking harmonies that define this ancient art form. Don't miss this captivating performance that celebrates the beauty and depth of Carnatic music!

Carnatic Ensemble

William Wang is a sixth-year PhD student in computer science, working with Ali Jadbabaie at the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. He currently studies with David Deveau as an Emerson/Harris Fellow; his past teachers include Betty Woo and James Gard- ner, and he has participated in masterclasses with Olga Kern, Rohan de Silva, Sang Woo Kang, and Gloria Chien. William is a four-time winner of the US Open Music Competition, first place winner of the East Bay Music Festival, and audience favorite prizewinner for the Pacific Musical Society Competition. William won the UC Berkeley concerto competition and performed Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto with the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra in 2017 – he would later perform the same concerto with the Boston Pops as part of the MIT Tech Night celebrations in 2021. In addition to solo repertoire, William has enjoyed playing in many group en- sembles at MIT, such as the Chamber Music Society and Jazz Combos, Middle Eastern Ensemble, and Ribotones, a musical outreach group which performs at assisted living homes. Apart from music, William enjoys cooking, baking sweets, and playing table tennis.

William Wang (G), piano

Masks are optional. Event attendees are encouraged to be mindful of others’ risk tolerance and respectful of their personal choices. All event attendees are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated and boosted. Tim Tickets are no longer required.

Joel Tan, piano

FaMLE, the MIT Laptop Ensemble, is a forum for the exploration of emerging digital musical practices, with a particular focus on collaborative music performance. We use a variety of software and hardware instruments to learn about current performance techniques, and ensemble members have the opportunity to create new compositions and instruments to explore their personal musical interests. Open to all members of the MIT community, FaMLE offers a practice-based vision of the future of digital musicianship.

FaMLE presents "FREQ Out: Impressions from the Voxel Lab"

Jay, a twenty year-old Chinese-American, is charged with reckless abandonment of their family—or, at least, inside the courtroom of their mind. But without a honest confrontation with their mother in the present, will Jay ever understand what it means to live?

The Fifth Annual Mta Playwrights Lab

MIT Jazz Combos Concert

MITHAS presents: Hindustani Sarod

Jade Buckwalter '26, flute

Join the MIT Symphony Orchestra and MIT Concert Choir for Mozart's Requiem and other works by Harbison and Brahms.

MIT Symphony Orchestra

Sara Kornfeld Simpson is a sixth year Ph.D. candidate in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. A recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, she studies how repeated visual experience differentially affects the activity of neurons in the primary visual processing area of neurotypical and autistic brains; she has presented this research at international conferences in Italy and Washington, D.C. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University (BU) in 2018 with a dual degree, triple major in Neuroscience, Flute and Oboe Performance. She received the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence (highest GPA in the graduating class) from BU’s College of Fine Arts, and in 2017 was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, the music honor society. Sara began studying piano at age 4, flute at age 10, and oboe at age 11. At BU, Sara studied flute with Linda Toote and oboe with Mark McEwen, performed with multiple BU music ensembles, and presented junior and senior recitals on both instruments. Sara was a YoungArts winner in Classical Music/Flute in both 2014 and 2015 and has performed with the NSO’s Summer Music Institute Orchestra, the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and the Nova Scotia Symphony. In 2017, she made her Jazz at Lincoln Center debut as the invited soloist for Society for Science and the Public’s Alumni Event. She is now performs with the MIT Wind and Festival Jazz Ensembles, and is privileged to study flute with Elizabeth Klein, associate principal flute of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Sara Kornfeld Simpson (G), flute

Melbourne is a senior majoring in physics (course 8) and minoring in biology (course 7) and music (course 21M). She is conducting research on the immune response to influenza vaccines and will be pursuing a PhD in biophysics. Having participated in MIT’s Chamber Music Society since freshman year, she has enjoyed making music in ensembles ranging from duets to quintets. She joined the Emerson/Harris Program for Private Study in her junior year to further her musical immersion. She currently studies with Mi-Eun Kim at MIT and previously studied with Genia Betman in Brooklyn, NY. As a member of MIT Ribotones, Melbourne has also organized and performed in concerts at assisted living facilities and community centers throughout the Greater Boston Area. Outside of music, you can find her concocting uniquely-flavored homemade ice cream in the French House kitchen or exploring Boston’s neighborhoods on Sunday morning runs.

Melbourne Tang, piano

In the Theater Arts 2024 Spring Production, "Plum Box—Strange—Ideal & More Than…"

Plum Box—Strange—Ideal & More Than…

MITHAS presents: Carnatic Flute

MIT Chamber Chorus: The Book of Love

Carol Mastrodomenico an accomplished soloist with choruses, orchestras and other ensembles. She excels in the interpretation of oratorio, and has appeared in Poulenc’s Gloria, Beethoven’s Mass in C and Ninth Symphony, Brahms’ Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Requiem, Mahler’s Second Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Fauré’s Requiem.

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Carol Mastrodomenico

The Collaborative Piano Studio and their partners perform works for solo instrument and piano.

Collaborative Piano Recital

Five composers, alumni, and local young student musicians join MITWE to close out its 25th anniversary season. This special event features two works commissioned by MITWE (Awakening by Jamshied Sharifi ’83, and Reminiscence by Kathryn Salfelder), Rubies by Institute Professor Emeritus John Harbison, in honor of his 85th birthday, MITWE assistant conductor Kenneth Amis’ celebratory work Bell-Tone's Ring, and Alfred Reed’s wind ensemble classic Armenian Dances (Part 1), performed with MITWE alumni. As a nod to MITWE’s commitment to chamber music over the years, the MITWE clarinet section will perform a fresh arrangement by and with MIT's Distinguished Professor of Music Evan Ziporyn, from his celebrated Pop Channel recording, and the MITWE flute section will perform Vincenzo Sorrentino’s Settimino.  In recognition of MITWE’s long-time commitment to connecting to public schools and their communities, the Blanchard Memorial School’s BrassWind Ensemble will be featured and area high school students will join MITWE on Armenian Dances.

MIT Wind Ensemble's 25th Anniversary Celebration

Clara Xu '24, piano

Sabrina Meng '24, violin

Olivia Beniston '25, piano

Plum Box—Strange—Ideal & More Than

Since his arrival in New York in 1999, Cuban saxophonist/percussionist/composer Yosvany Terry has been making a difference in contemporary music. His innovative work, a unique confluence of Cuban roots music and jazz, “has helped redefine Latin jazz as a complex new idiom. -- “The New York Times”

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Yosvany terry

April 11-14 MIT's Gamelan Galak Tika at Symphony Hall as part of BSO's Festival of the Senses. GGT will perform new and traditional music for Balinese gamelan before each of the BSO's performances of Olivier Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony. Under the direction of Gusti Komin, the group (comprised of MIT faculty, students, and community members) will perform 45-minutes before the start of the BSO concert itself, in the O'Block Kay Room at Symphony Hall.

BSO Festival of the Senses, featuring MIT's Gamelan Galak Tika

MTA Visiting Artist Janessa Clark is a BESSIE Award-nominated choreographer, dance filmmaker, performer, and installation artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her practice combines dance, video, and language to develop art for the stage, screen, and site-specific environments. The work created nourishes a desire to challenge traditional modes of choreography and spectatorship through co-authorship. Janessa holds an MA in Performance Practices and Research from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London and a BFA in Choreography from Arizona State University. Janessa has enjoyed prior residencies through CEC ArtsLink in St Petersburg, Russia, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Lake Studios Berlin, Loyola Marymount University, Exploring the Metropolis at Jamaica Arts Center, THE VISIONARY, and Stockholm University of the Arts (formerly DOCH). Her work has been presented widely over the past 20 years including at HERE Arts Center, Danspace Project, Barry Art Museum, the American Dance Festival, Bate Dance Festival, and internationally at numerous festivals. Her video-dance project COMMUNION, a response to the Covid-19 crisis, was nominated for the 2021 BESSIE Award for Outstanding Production.

Choreographing the Unknown: Vicious Terrain

This special annual MIT event features performances by MIT Wind Ensemble chamber ensembles, the MIT Chamber Music Society, and also a ort program of music by the award-winning MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble and MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble performing jazz standards and contemporary works.



MIT's Annual Campus Preview Weekend Concert

The MIT Concert Choir, directed by Ryan Turner, is a large choral group open by audition to both graduate and undergraduate students, and to members of the MIT community. The Concert Choir is a social, academic and musical ensemble in which students learn and perform major works from the standard repertoire, as well as selected shorter and lesser-known pieces. Rehearsals culminate in a public performance each semester that is often accompanied by a professional orchestra and soloists. When appropriate, student soloists are also featured. You can find a more detailed history of MIT's Concert Choir here.

Community Sing!

Holden Mui, piano

Emily Hu '27, piano

Haunted by a failed first love, Nina pursues relationships with expiration dates, breaking Henri’s heart. But could a chance encounter with a stranger in a bar allow Nina to have a future with Henri?

Cellist Carlos Prieto (B.S. in Course III, then called Metallurgical Engineering ‘58 and in Course XIV, Economics ’59) will give a talk about his new memoir MI VIDA MUSICAL, touching on his formative years at MIT and his subsequent career as a professional cellist. The talk will be followed by performances of J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 and Eugenio Toussaint’s Bachriation. 2022 Sudler Prize winner and Emerson/Harris Fellow Valerie Chen will also perform Phillip Glass’s Orbit. A light reception will follow.

Mi Vida Musical: Carlos Prieto in Conversation and Concert

Phoebe Lin '24, flute

Vikram Sundar (G), piano

Valerie K. Chen (G), cello

The MIT Music & Theater Arts Composer Forum is a series of public presentations by composers from inside and outside of MIT. Hosted in the Lewis Music Library, the MTA Composer Forum Series gives the MIT Community an opportunity to engage with leading voices in every field of Composition. Past presenters include John Harbison, Julia Wolfe, Terry Riley, Don Byron, and others.

Composer Forum: Guillermo Klein

Guillermo Klein is a composer and pianist born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in
1969, currently living in Upstate NY .
He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied
composition.

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Guillermo Klein

Elizabeth Klein joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1994 and was named associate principal flute in 1997. Klein grew up in Ridgewood, NJ, and graduated in 1994 from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she was a student of Julius Baker and Jeffrey Khaner. During her freshman year at Curtis, she won first prize in the quadrennial Koussevitzky Competition for Woodwinds. She spent a summer with the National Repertory Orchestra and was a featured soloist during the Festival of Contemporary Music as a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow. Klein has been featured in BSO performances of Frank Martin's Concerto for Seven Winds and has also performed as soloist with the Boston Pops, New Jersey Symphony, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, and Masterworks Festival Orchestra. A frequent performer in solo and chamber recitals, she has appeared locally with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players and the Boston Artists Ensemble. She has premiered three works written for her: at Jordan Hall, Michael Gandolfi's Geppetto's Workshop for flute and piano; Dan Coleman's Pavanes and Symmetries for flute and orchestra; and at Gordon College, Jeremy Begbie's Good Measure for flute and piano, after a poem by Malcolm Guite. In May 2017, Klein graduated summa cum laude from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary with a master's degree in spiritual formation. There, she studied Christian piety in various eras of church history, as lived by individuals such as the Stockbridge, MA, Puritan missionary Jonathan Edwards and the composers Hildegard of Bingen and Olivier Messiaen. She has lectured on Christ and the arts at the Institute for Christian Unity and performed in lecture events for Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts. Klein is on the flute faculty of Boston University.

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Elizabeth Klein

Collage New Music performs recent works by Peter Child. The program includes two chamber works premiered in the last two years: Turning Point, commissioned to celebrate Collage’s 50th anniversary, and Six Dances of Death, reimagined compositions by Henry VIII inspired by woodcuts by Holbein the Younger. At the center of the program is the premiere of a new song cycle for soprano and piano, A Golden Apple, which sets recent works by six women poets that explore themes of intimacy and loss. We present this concert on the occasion of Peter Child’s retirement from MIT after 37 years of teaching. Please join us for a post-concert reception celebrating Peter's years of service to MIT Music.

New Music by Peter Child: Celebrating 37 Years at MIT

Anton Bruckner’s expansive and monumental Symphony no. 4, given the title Romantic by the composer, is the featured work on our March program. The work is the composer’s most popular symphony, and is a wonderful gateway into Bruckner’s musical soundscape. Our concert will also feature the winner of this year’s concerto competition.

Bruckner Symphony no. 4: MIT Symphony Orchestra

Interlochen Center for the Arts

Composer Forum: Evan Williams

Boston premieres of works for multiple clarinets by three seminal American composers, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and Louis B. Hardin (aka Moondog). Plus Ziporyn’s own multi-clarinet arrangements from his 2022 album Pop Channel. Terry Riley’s Ki (2023) was written especially for Ziporyn, while Philip Glass Best Out of Three (1968), had been unperformed for over 50 years until Ziporyn realized it from manuscripts found in the composer’s archive. 

Evan Ziporyn solo: Moondog, Riley, Glass

Featuring the world premiere of Three Episodes, Two Flutes, Wind Ensemble (3, 2, 1) by MIT alumnus Eric Ostling, with soloists Elizabeth Klein, Associate Principal Flute of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Principal Flute of the Boston Pops Orchestra, and Sara Simpson, Emerson/Harris Music Fellow and MIT PhD candidate in Brain and Cognitive Sciences. The program also includes Michael Hennagin’s Jubilee, Vaughn Williams’ Toccata Marziale, Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, arr. by Kreines, and Insurgence for percussion ensemble by Kathryn Salfelder.

Jubilees - Celebrating new music commissioned by the MIT Wind Ensemble

The MIT Music & Theater Arts Composer Forum is a series of public presentations by composers from inside and outside of MIT. Hosted in the Lewis Music Library, the MTA Composer Forum Series gives the MIT Community an opportunity to engage with leading voices in every field of Composition. Past presenters include John Harbison, Julia Wolfe, Terry Riley, Don Byron, and others. 

Composer Forum: Clifton Boyd

With two acclaimed musicians and over 100 historical photographs, author Thomas Wolf recounts the compelling story behind his award-winning book, The Nightingale’s Sonata. The tale takes us from the shores of the Black Sea to the Tsar’s palace to Carnegie Hall to Boston and Tanglewood and beyond. In it, Wolf recounts the life of Lea Luboshutz, the first internationally known female violinist, her incomparable Stradivarius violin (the “Nightingale”), and her multi-generational musical family of which he is a member. Against the odds of pogroms, the Russian Revolution, and the Holocaust, this Jewish family triumphed again and again. The fascinating narrative tells their personal stories while sketching the history of classical music in the 20th century. Through the adversity they faced, family members were linked by a remarkable piece of music, César Franck’s sonata for violin and piano, which will be played live during the program. Signed copies of Thomas Wolf’s book will also be available.

The Nightingale's Sonata Program with Thomas Wolf

ARISTOTLE THINKS AGAIN is a contemporary dance/theater collision course on some ancient Greek themes.

Aristotle Thinks Again

This unique event combines the 60th anniversary of the creation of MIT’s formal jazz studies program with its annual concert honoring its founder, Herb Pomeroy (1930-2007), MIT’s “Father of Jazz.” Featuring every part of MIT’s jazz performance program as well as the MIT Alumni Jazz Band and Strength In Numbers (faulty jazz combo), the concert also celebrates the recent appointment of saxophonist-composer and Multiple Grammy Nominee and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón, as Professor in Jazz at MIT. The program includes performances by and compositions of Zenón’s along with music by Ellington, Hancock, and others.

16th Annual Herb Pomeroy Memorial Concert - Celebrating The 60th Anniversary of Jazz@MIT

Composer Forum: Trevor Weston

Kris Davis is a Grammy award-winning pianist and composer described by The New York Times as a beacon for “deciding where to hear jazz (in New York) on a given night.”Davis has released 23 recordings as a leader or co-leader and collaborated with artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Dave Holland, John Zorn, Craig Taborn, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey, Julian Lage and Esperanza Spalding.  She was named a 2021 Doris Duke Artist alongside Wayne Shorter and Danilo Perez, Pianist of the Year by DownBeat magazine in 2022 and 2020, and Pianist and Composer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2021.  Her latest release, Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard, was voted best album of 2023 by NPR, Pop Matters, and Downbeat among others.

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Kris Davis

Praised for her “thrilling blend of fury and finesse” (San Antonio Express-News) and her “winning combination of passion, imagination, and integrity” (New York Concert Review), pianist YOUNG-AH TAK enjoys a remarkable career that has taken her throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy, Korea, and Japan.

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Young-Ah Tak

Due to popular demand, we have added a second screening of "We Are the Forest" at 6pm! “We Are The Forest” tells the story of the MIT musicians who travelled to the Brazilian Amazon seeking cultural and scientific exchange. Indigenous musicians and activists share their traditional ecological knowledge. This documentary film features performances by Djuena Tikuna, Luciana Souza, Anat Cohen, and Evan Ziporyn, with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim. Fred Harris conducts the MIT Festival Jazz and MIT Wind Ensemble, Laura Grill Jaye conducts the MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble.

We Are the Forest - 6pm Screening

Come see the movie premiere! “We Are The Forest” tells the story of the MIT musicians who travelled to the Brazilian Amazon seeking cultural and scientific exchange. Indigenous musicians and activists share their traditional ecological knowledge. This documentary film features performances by Djuena Tikuna, Luciana Souza, Anat Cohen, and Evan Ziporyn, with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim. Fred Harris conducts the MIT Festival Jazz and MIT Wind Ensemble, Laura Grill Jaye conducts the MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble.

We Are the Forest Film Premiere

Emerson/Harris Piano Group Recital

Rambax MIT is an ensemble dedicated to learning the art of sabar, a vibrant drum and dance tradition of the Wolof people of Senegal, West Africa. This performance will also feature students from the new West African Dance class (21M.862). Come experience the magic of Senegalese drumming and dance!

Rambax Winter Concert

Hip-hop U @ Mit

Emerson/Harris Winds Group Recital

Drawing inpirtation from African American spirituals, J.S. Bach, and the words of Walt Whitman, the MIT Chamber Chorus explores the progression from the inevitable unity of fear and triumph to hope through works by Damien Geter, Caroline Shaw, and Bach.

MIT Chamber Chorus: Thirsting for Hope

Music spanning the 16th century to the 21st is featured, including Symphony in B-flat, Hindemith’s landmark work for wind ensemble. The Groton Hill Wind Ensemble joins MITWE for a performance of John Barnes Chance’s Variations on a Korean Folk Song. Lighting design by MIT’s E33 Productions.

9th Annual PRISM Concert Spectacular

Gamelan consists of gongs, metallophones, hand drums, and bamboo flutes, creating shimmering layers of rhythmically intricate, lyrical patterns.  Students learn the basics of this unique musical practice by playing and performing on traditional instruments, culminating in an end-of-semester performance.

Megamel - A Winter Balinese Gamelan Concert

MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble: Bird is the Word

A symphony of sounds and sine waves. Echoes of dreams lost and other planets, filtered and modified. Voltage under control. Join us to melt into beeps and boops, with ambient, techno, electropop and more. Meet your lover in a cyborg telenovela and fall from a tethered cloud, or get beaten by intense bass. Have you ever wanted to peer into the world of wires and chips and hear it whisper or scream back? Come for a smorgasbord of sound that will transform Killian Hall into an electronic music haven on November 30.

FaMLE presents Patchwork: A Cyborg Telenovela

MIT Symphony Orchestra: Born Here

Doctor Faustus, decides it would be better to  go to Hell than stay here, but Devil says “No you’ve already sold your soul.” Sigh. What’s a Scientist to do?! As the oceans boil, and the winds kick up, the struggles to go-real-fast-and-break-stuff no longer seems like a  good idea. We find ourselves in a blaze  of unrelenting light. Light without night. As the melodies of Mozart ring in our ears, Marguerite Ida and Helena Annabel,  pursued by snakes, burst in to remind us that things can always get worse.

Lights The Lights

Susanna Ogata enjoys an active performance schedule in greater New England and beyond.  Her playing has been described as “warm, witty, responsive, making the tops of phrases gleam” (Gramophone Magazine), “warm and rich of tone” (Fanfare Magazine), and “electrifying energy, awesome technical command and rollicking dialogue” (Arts Fuse Magazine) where her performance was distinguished as a top performance of the season.

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Susanna Ogata

Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42 is a musical manifestation of humanity’s impulse to search for love and belonging. Contemporary composer Reena Esmail’s This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity yearns for common ground by joining sitar and tabla with a modern western orchestra, juxtaposing words from seven major religious traditions of India to explore how they each approach the topics of unity, harmony, and of being kind to one another.

MIT Concert Choir: Longing for Unity

Starring Mustafa Al-Obaidi, Stefanie Bauer, Dionne-Marie Daku-Mante, Shangqing Guo, Judy He, Echo Liu, Sophie Liu, Tess Engst-Mansilla, Alayo Oloko, Sangkaeo Pin + Benson Joseph, Dayvion Porter, Lea Potthoff, Ellison Scheuller, Stella Shipps, Kelly Song, Laura Weber, Emi Grady-Willis, Xinyu Xu, Elvin Yang, Jackson Zhang, and Kevin Zimmer

This special concert features Blue Note Recording artist and GRAMMY-nominated saxophonist-composer Melissa Aldana. The Brooklyn-based tenor player from Santiago, Chile has garnered international recognition for her visionary work as a band leader, as well as her deeply meditative interpretation of language and vocabulary. The program will include music by Aldana, Chick Corea, Miguel Zenón, Jon Cowherd, and others.


Visions: The Musical Worlds of Melissa Aldana

About Emerson/Harris: Funded by the late Mr. Cherry L. Emerson, Jr. (SM, 1941) in response to an appeal from Associate Provost Ellen T. Harris, Class of 1949 Professor Emeritus of Music, the Emerson/Harris Program (E/HP) offers merit-based financial grants for private lesson study in music to MIT students of outstanding achievement on their instruments or voice in classical, jazz or world music. Each academic year, the Emerson/Harris program awards half or full stipends to cover the cost of lessons to nearly fifty applicants who commit to a full year’s study and participate in the musical life of the MIT community. Subject credit may be obtained commensurate with the project options. Private teacher selections, made in consultation with the music faculty, may include instructors from MIT staff and throughout Greater Boston.

Emerson/Harris Voice Group Recital

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Melissa Aldana

Cellist Juliette Herlin (Assistant Professor, Texas Christian University, Cellist in the Aletheia Piano Trio) will give a masterclass on Friday November 3rd on the core string and chamber music repertoire performed by MIT students in the Emerson/Harris Program and Chamber Music Society. An informal technique class followed by Q&A session with the guest artist will be open to all cellists, strings and musicians on Saturday November 4th.

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Juliette Herlin

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.”

MIT’s Annual Family Weekend Concert "Global Soundscapes—Celebrating the Universality of Music"

MITHAS presents: A Carnatic Vocal Concert by Ritesh and Rajnish Mishra

MITHAS presents: A Carnatic Vocal Concert by Ramana Balachandran

Emerson/Harris Masterclass: Logan Skelton

MITHAS presents: A Carnatic Vocal Concert by Ramakrishnan Murthy

STRUGGLE OVERCOME: MIT Symphony Orchestra Concert

Bouffons are a clown type derived from Jacques Lecoq's L'École Internationale de Théâtre. Nathaniel Justiniano describes bouffon performance as “a realm rooted in satire and mockery. It is often physically grotesque, confrontational, hilarious, and harnassed to point out and revel in society’s ills.” Justiniano is a queer, Cali-Rican theater artist. He is the founding Artistic Director of Naked Empire Bouffon Company, which began in San Francisco in 2009 with an activist mission to devise hilarious, cutting, and visually provocative satires to catalyze urgent discourse. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Comedic Performance at Emerson College. This workshop is accessible to beginners with no movement or clowning background.

Bouffon-style Clowning Masterclass with Nathaniel Justiniano

Negin Farsad was named one of 50 Funniest Women by Huffington Post and was selected as a TEDFellow for her work in social justice comedy. She is the author of How To Make White People Laugh, a memoir-meets-social-justice-comedy manifesto that was nominated for the Thurber Prize for Humor and recommended by Oprah Magazine. She is also the director and producer of the feature film The Muslims Are Coming!, which follows a band of Muslim American comedians as they visit U.S. towns and cities to combat Islamophobia. Farsad is host of Fake the Nation, a political comedy podcast on the Earwolf network, and she is a regular panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. She started her comedy career as a Cornell and Columbia-educated policy advisor for the City of New York. Since her time at the City Council, she has been waving comedy and social commentary to cleverly undercut stereotypes of her culture and Islamophobia at large.

Negin Farsad, “The Case for American Exceptionalism by a Lady Muz”

Emerson Harris sponsored Masterclass with GRAMMY award-winning bassist/composer, Linda May Han Oh. Masterclass will include rehearsal and practice techniques, concepts for improvisation and composition, Q&A and a short performance.

Emerson/Harris Jazz Masterclass - Linda May Han Oh

Tristan is a former violinist, but quit in eighth grade because it was too difficult to play in tune. He enjoys chamber music and boba with oats in it. His favorite composer might be Schubert, but he didn’t put any on the program for some reason. 

Tristan Yang (G), piano

Under Kira's direction, the KDF Big Band (formerly the Young Lions Jazz Orchestra) is a 16-piece jazz ensemble comprised of some of the best young emerging artists in the Northeast. The original project stemmed from her student-led big band at Columbia University— upon graduating, Kira began to pursue ways of engaging her peers professionally and performing in venues across the city. She established the Young Lions Jazz Orchestra as a means to develop her unique musical voice; the group balances convention and novelty by placing an emphasis on original compositions and arrangements. After being forced to disband in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Kira has now organized this second edition ensemble to bring her music back to audiences in the Boston area and beyond.

KDF Big Band

Talia Khan is a first year graduate student in the department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Talia was also an Emerson Fellow when she was an undergrad at MIT; she completed a double major in Music and Materials Science & Engineering in 2020. Between undergrad and grad school, Talia completed a Fulbright Research Fellowship in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, where she immersed herself in Brazilian music, language, and culture as well as sustainable materials research, working with indigenous artisans. She is excited to have brought her passion for sustainability and protection of the Amazon rainforest back to MIT, and to be sharing this through the Hearing Amazônia project with the MIT Music Department. A student of classical, jazz, musical theatre, and Brazilian music, Talia brings a diverse perspective which is reflected in her repertoire for this recital – a mix of jazz, Brazilian choro and MPB, and folk. When she is not singing or doing mechanical engineering research, Talia is leading the charge for more musicology research in the area of sustainable musical instrument making – a topic she has dubbed eco-organology. On this concert, Talia will be accompanied by some amazing local musicians: Ian Coury (mandolin, Berklee), Peter Godart (piano, MIT PhD ‘21), Cory Pesaturo (accordion, NEC ‘12), Koren Berkovich (drums, Berklee), Amadeus Alcântara (cello + pandeiro, MIT visiting student), Itay Dayan (clarinet, NEC), and Daniel Hurtado (bass, MIT visiting professor). She would like to thank Fred Harris, Luciana Souza, Miguel Zenon, Jason Yeager, John Harbison, and Laura Grill Jaye for their continued help and support.

Talia Khan (G), voice

Always been interested in dance but never knew where to start? Want to upgrade your head bops and awkward hops with some bounce, rock and groove? Looking for a welcoming space to learn the basics or brush up your skills?

Groove@MIT

Originally from the village of Pengosekan, Bali, Gusti Komin Darta has been hailed as a leading composer, performer, and teacher of Balinese music of his generation. Born in 1978, he first studied music with his father, renowned musician Gusti Ketut Kerta, and began performing professionally for shadow puppet plays (wayang) at the age of 9. As a teenager, he enrolled at the prestigious national arts conservatory, now known as the Indonesian Institute for the Arts. Gusti Komin is a founding member of the virtuosic Balinese gamelan Çudamani and has toured extensively throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States. For 25 years he taught gendér wayang, reyong, and kendang instruments to local and foreign students out of his family home in Pengosekan, Bali as well as teaching overseas.

Gamelan Spring Concert

Seeking students of all abilities and all levels of experience to join in making a play for our community. Student performers, actors, singers, dancers, musicians, athletes, stagehands, assistant stage managers, assistant directors, and production team members are all invited to be a part of the MIT Theater 2024 fall production by taking the 21T.100: Theater Arts Production course. MIT students will receive 12 credits, HASS-A.

MIT Music and Theater Arts

Nov 21, 2024

La Vida es Sueño/Life is a Dream

2 - 7 Jun, 2024

Pocket Opera Productions presents Rigoletto

May 18, 2024

Vocal Jazz Group Recital

MIT Music and Theater Arts