Videos

Kresge Auditorium, MIT Building W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139

The concert will be streamed live on the MTA website (https://mta.mit.edu/video/hearing-amaz%C3%B4nia) 

Hearing Amazônia–The Responsibility of Existence 

Created and led by MIT Sounding Co-Director Dr. Frederick Harris Jr.,Hearing Amazônia–The Responsibility of Existence is inspired by Brazilian music influenced by the natural world and by 2020 MIT graduate Talia Khan’s research on natural botanical resins and traditional carimbó music in Santarém, Pará, Brazil, made possible by a MIT-Brazil/ MISTI Sun internship grant.

Building upon experiences with 2020-21 CAST Virtual Visiting Artists Luciana Souza and Anat Cohen, this multi-year project launches with a special concert drawing attention to the urgency of the climate crisis. Portugal-born vocalist-composer Sara Serpa and MIT Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music Evan Ziporyn join an array of MIT musicians (MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, MIT Wind Ensemble, and MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble) to present a unique program of Brazilian music. 

Music from Amazônia and works by Antônio Carlos Jobim, Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti, and Chiquinha Gonzaga, arranged by Guillermo Klein and Evan Ziporyn, will be featured. 

The concert will include talks by Talia Khan, MIT SB ’20 and future MS/PhD Candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, on her research in Brazil, and Dr. Maritta R. von Bieberstein Koch-Weser, who leads the “Amazonia em Transformação: História e Perspectivas” program at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. In this context she spearheads work on the establishment of the world’s first Rainforest Business School. 

Regarding her talk, Dr. Koch-Weser offers the following introduction:

“Biodiversity is the greatest treasure of Amazonian people and all Brazilians. A new path is possible (and most urgent) with ambitious science-based development of a standing-forest bio-economy. The people living in this region look for sustainable social and economic progress. Renewed respect for Brazil’s environmental and indigenous protection legislation, and building back nature on vast deforested lands could make a huge and positive difference. The reset has started.”