Presented as part of the Emerson/Harris Program for Private Study Spring Recital Series. All Killian Hall concerts are livestreamed at this link: https://mta.mit.edu/viewlisten/live-killian-hall
Click here to view the program
About the Performer
Sara Kornfeld Simpson is a fifth year PhD candidate in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. A recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, she studies how experience affects the activity of neurons in the visual system. 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. She was named the BU Harry Hung Sheng Chou Trustee Scholar and a Davidson Fellow Laureate. Sara served as vice president of Nu Rho Psi, BU's Neuroscience Honor Society and published in two BU journals, The Nerve and the WR: Journal of the CAS Writing Program. In 2016, Sara conducted her first neuroscience research at an NSF REU program at the Scripps Research Institute and was funded to present her poster at the Association for Chemoreception Sciences 39th Annual Conference, where she was named a finalist for the AChemS Undergraduate Research Award. In 2022, she presented her graduate school research at a Gordon Research Conference on Thalamocortical Interactions in Tuscany, Italy. In her free time, Sara enjoys attending the BSO, exploring Boston and Cambridge on foot, and, now that the world is regaining some normalcy, trying different restaurants with friends.
Sara began studying piano at age 4, flute at age 10, and oboe at age 11. Throughout high school, she performed in the San Diego Youth Symphony and many honor bands and orchestras, including the National Honor Concert Band, which was her Kennedy Center debut. She returned to this stage in summer 2014 as a member of the NSO’s Summer Music Institute. At BU, Sara studied flute with Linda Toote and oboe with Mark McEwen, performed with the BU Wind Ensemble, Chamber and Symphony Orchestras, and chamber 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, toured Europe with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in summer 2015 (which included performing in the Berlin Philharmoniker), and performed with the Nova Scotia Symphony in the summers of 2015 and 2016. 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.
Health Policy
As of March 14th, 2022, 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. For Killian Hall recitals, please use the Building 14 entrance either by the Lewis Music Library or at 160 Memorial Drive. Visitors may also be escorted on campus by anyone with an active MIT ID.
