Performances + Events
On Thursday, October 2, vocalist, improviser, and composer Sara Serpa ’08 MM will give a performance with pianist Matt Mitchell featuring music from their album End of Something. On Saturday, October 4, Mutual Mentorship for Musicians, an organization Serpa cofounded with Jen Shyu “to counter isolation and create a space where women and non-binary musicians could connect and be heard on their own terms,” will hold the fourth annual M³ Festival. We spoke with Serpa about musical storytelling, her time as a student at NEC, building community, and more.
Q: Your latest album, End of Something, made with composer and pianist Matt Mitchell, explores collaboration itself. Talk about the nature of this collaboration and collaboration in general, and about the music you and Mitchell brought to this recording?
A: We started our collaboration through my project Intimate Strangers, in 2018. There was an immediate musical connection. We realized we approach music as equals, and the mutual desire to continue the duo work made us imagine an album that blends composition and improvisation as our shared language. The album reflects that balance, shaped as much by our differences as by our common ground.
Q: You and Mitchell will give a master class here at NEC before your performance. What will that class cover and explore?
A: We’ll focus on our work as a duo, and navigating written music and improvisation: how to listen, how to shape a musical dialogue, balance freedom and form, and create meaning with or without text.
Q: All About Jazz has pointed out that you often sing “as an instrumentalist.” Does singing wordless music require you to occupy a different headspace than singing music that uses text?
A: Yes, definitely. The verbal communication is different from non-verbal. Wordless singing treats the voice as pure sound, where I deal with tone, pitch, harmony, blending, rhythm. With text, language adds history and emotion. Both demand different focus, but the aim is always connection and storytelling.
Q: You’ve sung music that sets poetry and that which explores politics and culture. To what extent does a text have to resonate with you if you’re going to record or perform it?
A: Completely. I only work with texts that feel urgent and have meaning to me. Language also imposes different challenges: singing in Portuguese is a totally different experience than singing in English.
Q: You’ve referred to Ran Blake as “chosen family.” Can you share some thoughts about the influence and inspiration you found here at NEC in Blake, Dominique Eade, and other faculty and peers?
A: Both Dominique and Ran believed in me as a young aspiring singer that had just arrived in Boston. Both opened doors for me and I feel grateful for our relationship over the years since I’ve graduated. Ran showed me the power of storytelling and allowed me to find my place in jazz standards. Dominique gave me the tools and encouragement to expand the voice without limits. The time at NEC fostered my creativity, curiosity, and generosity and that continues to shape my path.
Q: You’ve recorded several albums with Blake. What has that process looked (and sounded) like?
A: Intuitive and dreamlike. We don’t over-rehearse. The music unfolds in the moment, fragile or explosive.
Q: Would you talk broadly about experiences you’ve had that motivated the establishment, with cofounder Jen Shyu, of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians?
A: We wanted to counter isolation and create a space where women and non-binary musicians could connect and be heard on their own terms.
Q: You’ve described the organization as a “think tank” in which individual artists—women and gender-expansive musicians—can “connect, collaborate, perform, support, and create.” What have you learned, five years on, about your own artistry through your work with M³?
A: That building community is part of my art. M³ reminds me that imagination grows stronger through solidarity. And that we all have the power to change things around us.
Q: This year’s M³ Festival will include the launch of M³ Magazine, which builds on the organization’s anthology series. That element, along with commissions, the annual festival, and an annual Luminary Award comprise the primary activities of the organization. Would you speak to those activities and how they symbiotically work to create what you’ve described as “expandable music communities”?
A: Each element feeds the others: the commissions spark creation and collaboration, the festival gives the musicians a stage to perform, the magazine fills a gap in musicians’ narratives, preserves their stories, and the award honors the accomplishments and lineage, while addressing ageism. Together, they keep the community open, more inclusive and ever- expanding.
Learn more about Sara Serpa, her performance with Matt Mitchell, Mutual Mentorship for Musicians, and the M³ Festival.
