Hailed for its “agile virtuosity and vibrant sound” and “visually arresting, brilliantly executed” performances (Arts and Culture Texas), the artist-led, artist-curated Kinetic Ensemble visits MIT to celebrate creative collaboration and new beginnings, and to explore music inspired by human invention, cultural heritage, and the natural world. Founded and directed by Natalie Lin Douglas (Associate Professor of Music at MIT), Kinetic premieres two new works by MIT faculty members Miguel Zenón (GRAMMY Award winner; Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow) and Evan Ziporyn (Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor; Director of the Center for Art, Science & Technology). The ensemble also presents the Boston premiere of The Wilderness Anthology for string orchestra and soundscapes by guest composer Patrick Harlin, whose interdisciplinary work combines the fields of musical composition and soundscape ecology.

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On the program:

‍Viet Cuong: Next Week’s Trees (2021)

‍Miguel Zenón: Promesa and Yumac, arr. saxophone and string orchestra (2025, World Premiere)

‍Evan Ziporyn: In Light of Sound (2024, World Premiere)

‍Patrick Harlin: The Wilderness Anthology for string orchestra (2022)

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Program

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Viet Cuong: Next Week’s Trees (2021)

Miguel Zenón: 
Promesa 
Yumac, arr. saxophone and string orchestra (2025, World Premiere)

Evan Ziporyn: In Light of Sound (2024, World Premiere)

I. Ear-idescent
II. Bird Math
III. Unraveling

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Intermission

Patrick Harlin: The Wilderness Anthology for String Orchestra (2016/2022)

I. Reverence/Dusk
II. Jungle Disco
III. Dawn Chorus
IV. Static
V. Extraordinary Machine
VI. Nightscape
VII. Dawn/Reverence

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Notes

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Next Week’s Trees (2021) The title of this piece comes from Mary Oliver’s poem “Walking To Oak-Head Pond, And Thinking Of The Ponds I Will Visit In The Next Days And Weeks.” In this particular time of great loss, I was deeply inspired by Oliver’s words—words that are a gentle reminder of the uncertainty of the future, the confident hope of the present, and the propulsive force of life that drives us through any doubt that a new day will arrive.

– Viet Cuong

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Promesa. A piece inspired by the Puerto Rican religious tradition of “La Promesa”, where an individual makes a promise to a Catholic deity and in return asks for a specific favor, frequently related to health or finances. If the favor is granted the individual is expected to fulfill this promise for the rest of his or her life. The composition relates specifically to “La Promesa de Reyes”, or Three Kings. The piece begins with a harmonic meditation, where the Cellos will improvise collectively before the saxophone theme is introduced. 

Yumac. In reference to the Puerto Rican “Aguinaldo Yumac”, named after the town of “Camuy” (with the name spelled backwards) where it was created by singer Germán Rosario during the mid 1900’s. It comes out of the “Jíbaro” tradition, which uses a ten-line stanza with an “ABBAACCDDC” rhyme scheme, also known as a “Décima”. The composition begins with a fugue for the strings and features and improvised saxophone/violin duet as one of the final statements.

– Miguel Zenón

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For a long time I used to sit in window seats on airplanes. I would stare at large bodies of water passing underneath, thinking “if I could only make my music do that…” Something to do with the counterpoint of wave patterns, the fractured symmetry of reflection and refraction, the ineffability of nature itself. In Light of Sound (2024) is in three movements: Ear-i-descence, is a pond under shifting winds: gentle, unpredictable turbulence, with different hues appearing based both on the prevailing conditions and one’s own vantage point. Bird Math: I’m a recovering ornithophobic, so this starts as exposure therapy (‘Conference of the Birds,” New England chapter), then gives into more primal, inexplicable fears. Unraveling can mean a lot of things, some very much related to the above. Take your pick…

– Evan Ziporyn

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The Wilderness Anthology (2016/2022) for string orchestra and pre-recorded audio soundscapes transports listeners to some of the most remote and imperiled ecosystems on Earth, from the Amazon rainforest to the Book Cliffs of the U.S.  Through a combination of habitat loss, species decline, and resource extraction, soundscapes are becoming less apparent and acoustically diverse.  By combining ecological soundscapes with musical performance, The Wilderness Anthology seeks to revisit our innate connection to natural soundscapes and promote awareness and sensitivity for our sonic environments.  

This work is performed in 7 movements:  I. Reverence: Light filters through the trees like stained glass.  II. Jungle Disco: At night, the jungle moves to its own beat. III. Dawn Chorus: Morning is cause for celebration.  IV. Static: Time moves faster and slower in the desert V. Extraordinary Machine: The inanimate becomes animate– with a repressive regularity.  VI. Nightscape: Evening fades to night, the music changes with it. VII.  Dawn/Reverence: Life moves in cycles––listen deeply and there is music all around.  

– Patrick Harlin

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