Spring 2019 Performances

	The venue for many of the Artists Beyond the Desk performances, the MIT Chapel was designed by Finnish America architect Eero Saarinen and dedicated in 1955. His nearby Kresge Auditorium and Kresge Oval complete the set. Read a News story from their 50th anniversary. Click on the photo to see a video of the designing of the Chapel. **Note that performances on February 20 and March 6 will be in Killian Hall - 14W
	Tuesday, January 22 at noon in MIT Chapel Meridian Singers presents a lunchtime concert of pieces from the repertory of English and German part songs. The part song was a popular form of communal music-making in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with roots centuries earlier in such genres as the German Tenorlied. Featured composers include Isaac, Parry, Mendelssohn, and Pearsall. Meridian Singers is an a cappella ensemble open to all in the MIT community.

	Wednesday, February 20 at noon in Killian Hall - 14W Howard Martin and Varient State Variant State is a project instigated by Howard Martin (reeds), Jesse Kenas-Collins (trumpet, reeds, feedback objects), and Michael Rosenstein (amplified surfaces and objects, modified field recordings, oscillators). Working In various configurations, they explore the interactions of acoustic instrumentation, electronics, multiphonics, abraded recordings, and feedback within collectively improvised settings. Their open-form sonic investigations draw on aesthetics of s pontaneous interaction and dynamic cooperative structures. https://variantstatetrio.bandcamp.com/ Howard Martin's sound practice focuses on the interactions between instruments and resonant spaces. His longest running project has been listening through the fragmentary histories of the saxophone and clarinet in jazz and free improvisation and through this study, synthesizing a personal approach that includes traditional and extended techniques while leaving room for stasis and near silence. Working and living in Boston since 2008, Jesse Kenas Collins performs in both solo and group contexts, focusing on the confusion of brass and woodwind instruments integrated with analog electronics and systems of feedback. Recent explorations in instrument building have lead him to use of accordion and khaen reeds sounded by small fans and balloons. These instruments are often distributed around performance space and used as a tonal ground against shifting layers of transient electronic and percussive material. As an improviser, he works closely with many artist around New England and maintains an active performance schedule. http://www.jessekenascollins.com/ https://jessekenascollins.bandcamp.com/ Michael Rosenstein explores the interaction of acoustic and electronic sounds in collectively improvised settings and compositional frameworks. Process is central to his practice. This includes building and modifying sound-gathering devices, amplified surfaces, salvaged instruments, and simple oscillators. It extends to gathering recordings at ocean beaches, bogs, subways, city walks, and as part of architectural investigations utilizing microphones, photo diodes, contact microphones, hydrophones,and electromagnetic sensors. He develops these raw sonic sources, transforming, distressing, and combining them, and feeding off of the unstable sonic results. His current projects include Variant State with Jesse Collins and Howard Martin as well as his duo with Steve Norton. http://www.variantstate.com/michael-rosenstein/

	Wednesday, March 6 at noon in Killian Hall - 14W Cindy Woolley in a classical flute and voice recital with piano accompaniment. Flutist/soprano, Cindy Woolley is an administrative assistant in the Biology Department at MIT. She has given many solo recitals in the Boston area, including at MIT, and was co-founder of the Silverwood Trio (flute/voice, cello and piano). She graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music where she studied flute with Lois Schaefer and is currently studying voice with Jayne West. She is a cantor at Corpus Christi-St. Bernard Church in West Newton. Cindy will be performing songs by Samuel Barber and Fernando Obradors and flute works by Claude Debussy, Karl Keller and Gabriel Faure.

	Wednesday, March 20 at noon in MIT Chapel a Double Bill Marcia Ross will read from her upcoming novel. Marcia Ross writes fiction, articles, and poems, and is a writer/editor at MarciaRoss LLC. She grew up in California, has lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, England, Scotland, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia, and resides now in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For 20 years Marcia taught English Literature and Composition at UMass Boston. She worked even longer as an administrative assistant at MIT, most recently for Prof Steven Tannenbaum. A few of her favorite things are: edgy flicks, reading and conversation, teatime, grandchildren, and walking around doing nothing with her dog Finn. Michele Harris will read from her poetry book Blackdamp, which is forthcoming from David Robert Books in May. Michele Harris received the 2011 David A. Kennedy prize in poetry, and her poem Instinct was a finalist for the 2018 New Millennium Award. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in New Millennium Writings, Sheepshead Review, The Tishman Review, Anderbo, Cicada, The Prose-Poem Project, Dirtflask, The Northridge Review, Cosumnes River Journal, Escarp, Stirring, and elsewhere. She holds a BA in English Literature from Allegheny College and an MFA in Creative Writing from UMass Boston, where she volunteer teaches Literature classes for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. https://michelewritespoetry.com

	Wednesday, April 3, at noon MIT Chapel Salvatore Angelone presents songwriting and musical compositions that tell stories that draw you in - all loosely based on actual events or places. "You'll laugh! You'll cry! It's better than Cats (the musical)! seriously, I think the show has wide appeal and is approachable." - The artist

slake Andy Bohachewsky –†Rhodes electric piano and synthesizers Eugene Kuziw –†electric guitar and bass Tom Kieber –†drum kit and percussion An excursion through post-jazz landscapes	Wednesday, April 17 at noon MIT Chapel Andy Bohachewsky, Eugene Kuwiz, and Tom Kieber. click on text to left for a flyer.

Click for larger image	Wednesday, May 1 at noon MIT Chapel Marana Avant, mezzo soprano, in a classical voice recital. Marana Avant has sung a range of chorus, supporting and leading roles with companies such as Arizona Opera, Seattle Opera, Tacoma Opera, Santa Fe Opera and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She is currently a soloist and choir member of the Park Street Church Sanctuary Choir. This summer, she will be participating in the North Shore Summer Concert Series.

	Wednesday, May 15 at noon MIT Chapel Pat Battstone returns with special guest, internationally recognized vocalist, Marilena Parasdisi MARILENA PARADISI Vocalist, composer, improviser, tireless explorer and experimenter in the use of the human voice, her work ranges from jazz to total improvisation and contemporary classics. She is internationally recognized for the richness of expression and her talent for interpretation . Chris Rathbun - double bass Pat Battstone - piano For the concert at MIT Chapel concert, We will be doing a total improvization.

Click for larger flyer.	Tuesday, May 21, at 1:00 pm MIT Chapel Join the Meridian Singers as we celebrate in song the renewal promised by spring. Our a cappella music spans the 14th to the 20th centuries.
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