MIT Wind Ensemble
Frederick Harris, Jr., Music Director, Kenneth Amis, Assistant Conductor
Anat Cohen, guest clarinetist, Matthew Roitstein, guest flutist, and
Jamshied Sharifi, guest composer
This special program is a “festival of collaborations” with musicians associated with MIT and will serve as a send off for MITWE’s March tour to the Dominican Republic. The program includes the world premiere of Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble by MIT alumnus Jamshied Sharifi, Anat Cohen, soloist; the Chaminade Concertino for Flute, Matthew Roitstein, soloist; Spring Overture by Kenneth Amis, Rubies by John Harbison, and music by Domincan Republic composers.
Grammy-nominated clarinetist- saxophonist Anat Cohen has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. The Jazz Journalists Association has voted Cohen as Clarinetist of the Year nine years in a row, and she has topped both the Critics and Readers Polls in the clarinet category in DownBeat magazine every year since 2011. That’s not to mention years of being named Rising Star in the soprano and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat, as well as for Jazz Artist of the Year. In 2009, ASCAP awarded Cohen a Wall of Fame prize for composition and musicianship, among other honors.
In 2018, she was nominated for two Grammy awards: Best Latin Jazz Album for Outra Coisa – The Music of Moacir Santos, a collaboration with Marcello Gonçalves, and Best World Music Album for Rosa Dos Ventos, a collaboration with Trio Brasileiro. She is currently supporting her 2017 release “Happy Song” with her ten piece ensemble, the Anat Cohen Tentet, in addition to duo concerts with acclaimed pianist Fred Hersch in support of their 2018 release, “Live in Healdsburg.”
The world’s great jazz festivals have invited Cohen to perform, including the JVC, Newport, Chicago, Monterey, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage, SF Jazz (San Francisco), Playboy (Los Angeles), Duke Ellington (Washington, D.C.), Montreal, Copenhagen, Jazz à Vienne, Umbria, North Sea (Netherlands), Tudo e Jazz (Brazil), Caesaria (Israel) and Zagreb Jazzarella festivals. Her performances have been broadcast internationally, including by WBGO, WFUV, WNYC and NPR in the U.S. and Radio Netherlands, ORF (Austrian Radio), SR (Swedish Radio) and Radio Bremen (Germany).
Originally from Valencia, CA, Matthew Roitstein, ’07, joined the Houston Symphony in 2014 as Associate Principal Flute, the first appointment made by Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada. He was previously a member of the Honolulu Symphony and Sarasota Opera Orchestras, as well as a fellow of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, where he inaugurated the Solo Spotlight recital series in 2011 in the newly built, Frank Gehry-designed New World Center. Roitstein has performed as guest Principal Flute with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, and Louisiana Philharmonic. During his summers, he has participated in the Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Aspen and Sarasota Music Festivals. Roitstein has twice appeared on PBS “Great Performances” from Tanglewood and the New World Center, and he can be heard on recordings with the Houston Symphony and New World Symphony, as well as on Gloria Estefan’s album, “The Standards.”
He received his Bachelor’s Degrees in both architecture and music from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was the 2007 winner of the MIT Symphony Concerto Competition. While at MIT, he studied flute with Seta Der Hohannesian. He received his Master’s Degree in flute performance with Leone Buyse at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Other influential teachers include Mark Sparks, Stephen Kujala, Gary Woodward, Pedro Eustache, and Matthew’s mother, Rosy Sackstein.
Jamshied Sharifi, ’83, is a New York-based composer, producer, and keyboardist. He has composed the scores for the feature films Harriet The Spy, Down To Earth, Clockstoppers, and Muppets From Space, as well as contributing music to numerous other films and television shows. As a producer, arranger and keyboardist, he has recorded and/ or performed with Paula Cole, Ray Charles, Dream Theater, Laurie Anderson, Hassan Hakmoun, Yungchen Lhamo, Snatam Kaur and many others. His world-inspired debut CD, A Prayer For The Soul Of Layla, was named ‘Best World Album’ by New Age Voice magazine, and ‘Best Album of the Year’ by critic and radio host John Diliberto.
Recent projects include arrangements for Grammy-winning jazz artist Jacob Collier, the Montreal Symphony, the National Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony; a new performing ensemble with percussionist Mino Cinelu; and orchestrations for the Broadway musicals The Last Ship and The Band’s Visit, for which Sharifi won the 2018 Tony for “Best Orchestrations.” He is currently working with Mira Nair on a musical presentation of her film Monsoon Wedding.
