Presented by the Emerson/Harris Program for Private Study Solo Recital Series
Program
Livestream: https://mta.mit.edu/viewlisten/live-killian-hall
MIT COVID Policy for In-Person Events:
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.
To enter the building, please come to the exterior doors at 160 Memorial Drive and one of our ushers will let you in.
About the Performers
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.
About the Emerson/Harris Program for Private Study
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 offers merit-based financial awards for private study in music to students of outstanding achievement on their instruments in classical, jazz or world music. Each academic year, the Emerson/Harris Program awards Scholarships and Fellowships to nearly fifty students who commit to a full year’s study and participate in the musical life of MIT. Private teacher selections, made in consultation with the music faculty, may include instructors from MIT staff and throughout Greater Boston.
