Hearing Amazônia–The Responsibility of Existence

The impact of ecological devastation in the Amazon is representative of the climate crisis worldwide. Inspired by the research and activism of Talia Khan ’20 and building upon experiences with CAST Visiting Artists Luciana Souza and Anat Cohen, Hearing Amazônia—The Responsibility of Existence is a project created by Frederick Harris Jr. 

The project launched in November 2021 with a consciousness-raising concert of Brazilian and Amazonian music influenced by the rhythms of the natural world. The concert was part eulogy and part praise song; a way of bearing witness to loss while celebrating the living and evolving cultural heritage of Amazônia. Portugal-born vocalist-composer Sara Serpa, clarinetist-composer Anat Cohen, and MIT Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music Evan Ziporyn joined the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, MIT Wind Ensemble, and MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble to present a unique program of Brazilian music including virtual performances by indigenous Amazonian musicians. The event included short talks by Maritta R. von Bieberstein Koch-Weser, founder and president of Earth3000; Brazilian music scholar Genevieve Dempsey; and Talia Khan, who spoke about her research on natural botanical resins and traditional carimbó music in Santarém, Pará, Brazil.

Featuring the world premiere of Amazônia Sem Lei (“Lawless Amazon”) by Grammy-nominated Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad, Hearing Amazônia—The Responsibility of Existence continues with a concert on March 11, 2023. Several weeks later during the Institute’s spring break, the MIT Wind Ensemble, MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, and MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble will travel to the Brazilian Amazon, becoming only the second MIT group to do so.

During their trip, the nearly 80 musicians will be based in the city of Manaus, located in the center of the world’s largest rainforest and home to the National Institute of Amazonian Research, an educational and research institution for international sustainability issues and scientific studies of the region.

Activities will include cultural and scientific exchanges with indigenous Amazonians through Nobre Academia de Robótica and the São Sebastião community on the Tarumã River, the National Institute of Amazonian Research, the Cultural Center of the Peoples of the Amazon, and Fundação Amazônia Sustentável. 

Students will connect musically with local indigenous instrument builders, the Amazonas State Jazz Orchestra, and vocalist-composer Djuena Tikuna. A concert in famed 19th-century opera house Teatro Amazonas on March 31 will conclude the trip. 

The trip and concert are organized and executed by Iaí Promoções, a local production company led by Inês Daou with experience organizing cultural events and excursions throughout the region.

Past Events

We Are the Forest—Music of Resilience and Activism
Performance for Inauguration of MIT President Sally Kornbluth
Saturday, April 29, 2023
MIT Kresge Auditorium, W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA

Showcasing the talent and creativity of the roughly 100 performers who make up the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, the MIT Wind Ensemble, and the MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and featuring several MIT faculty and visiting artists, the event delivered a “sonic awakening” about the plight of the Amazon and urgency of the global climate crisis. Many of the pieces were developed as part of cultural exchanges between the MIT musicians and local communities in Puerto Rico and Brazil.

Watch the recording

Hearing Amazônia: Arte é Resistência

Performance at Teatro Amazonas Opera House
Friday, March 31, 2023
Manaus, Brazil

Featuring: 

MIT Wind Ensemble, MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble
Djuena Tikuna, vocalist-composer
Luciana Souza, vocalist-composer
Anat Cohen, clarinetist-composer
Evan Ziporyn, clarinetist-composer
Edu Ribeiro, drummer
José Neto, activist

Frederick Harris, Jr., music director
Laura Grill Jaye, director, MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble

To cap off their week-long cultural and scientific tour of Manaus, Brazil, MIT music students and guest artists will present at the Teatro Amazonas a concert celebrating Brazilian and indigenous Amazonian music and American jazz. 

The program includes the world premiere of We Are The Forest, a large-scale collaborative performance on themes of cultural and environmental sustainability featuring vocalist-composer Djuena Tikuna, who in 2015 debuted as the first Brazilian Amazonian musician to perform in the Teatro Amazonas. 

The event will feature the MIT Wind Ensemble, MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble, vocalist-composer Luciana Souza, clarinetist-composer Anat Cohen, clarinetist-composer and MIT professor Evan Ziporyn, local musicians from Manaus, and music by Antônio Carlos Jobim, Baden Powell, and Chiquinha Gonzaga. Indigenous peoples and climate activist José Neto, part of the Kaeté people from the Tupinambá nation, will be a guest speaker.

Hearing Amazonia
Commission Premiere, Amazonia sem lei
March 11, 2023 / 8:00pm
MIT Kresge Auditorium, W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA

Featuring the world premiere of Amazônia Sem Lei (“Lawless Amazon”) by Grammy-nominated Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad, this special concert continues the Hearing Amazônia—The Responsibility of Existence project launched in the fall of 2021 and comes weeks before MIT Wind Ensemble, MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, and MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble travel to Manaus, Brazil. 

Assad’s new work features violinist and MIT professor Natalie Lin Douglas and Assad herself. The concert also includes Antônio Carlos Jobim’s Passarim, Hermeto Pascoal’s Hermanos Latinos, Chiquinha Gonzaga’s Corta Jaca, and Drill by composer/bass clarinetist Evan Ziporyn.
Watch a recording of the performance

Performance: Hearing Amazônia–The Responsibility of Existence
Saturday, November 6, 2021 / 8pm
Kresge Auditorium, MIT Building W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA

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.

Featuring music from Amazônia and works by Antônio Carlos Jobim, Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti, and Chiquinha Gonzaga, arranged by Guillermo Klein and Evan Ziporyn. 

The concert included talks by Talia Khan, MIT SB ’20 and future MS/PhD Candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, on her research in Brazil, and 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.

Collaborators on the multi-year Hearing Amazônia project include:

Frederick Harris, Jr., Director of Wind and Jazz Ensembles, MIT Music and Theater Arts

Anat Cohen, CAST Visiting Artist

Genevieve Dempsey, Lecturer in World Music, MIT Music and Theater Arts

Talia Khan ’20

Guillermo Klein, CAST Visiting Artist

Maritta Koch-Weser, Founder and President of Earth3000

Sara Serpa, CAST Visiting Artist

Luciana Souza, CAST Visiting Artist

Evan Ziporyn, MIT Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music

MISTI Brazil

Hearing Amazônia–The Responsibility of Existence is presented by MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology and MIT Music and Theater Arts and includes research conducted with support from a MIT-Brazil/MISTI Sun internship grant.

View the 2021 Hearing Amazônia digital concert program.

Cenarium Magazine, Largest technology institute in the US comes to the Amazon for scientific and cultural exchange

Correio da Amazonia, Músicos de universidade americana participam de imersão cultural sobre Amazônia

Manaus Alerta, Teatro Amazonas recebe show gratuito com músicos americanos, artistas brasileiros, indígenas e compositoras indicadas ao Grammy