PERSON: Talia Kahn

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Graduate student

Talia Khan is a first year graduate student in the department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Talia was also an Emerson Fellow when she was an undergrad at MIT; she completed a double major in Music and Materials Science & Engineering in 2020. Between undergrad and grad school, Talia completed a Fulbright Research Fellowship in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, where she immersed herself in Brazilian music, language, and culture as well as sustainable materials research, working with indigenous artisans. She is excited to have brought her passion for sustainability and protection of the Amazon rainforest back to MIT, and to be sharing this through the Hearing Amazônia project with the MIT Music Department. A student of classical, jazz, musical theatre, and Brazilian music, Talia brings a diverse perspective which is reflected in her repertoire for this recital – a mix of jazz, Brazilian choro and MPB, and folk. When she is not singing or doing mechanical engineering research, Talia is leading the charge for more musicology research in the area of sustainable musical instrument making – a topic she has dubbed eco-organology. On this concert, Talia will be accompanied by some amazing local musicians: Ian Coury (mandolin, Berklee), Peter Godart (piano, MIT PhD ‘21), Cory Pesaturo (accordion, NEC ‘12), Koren Berkovich (drums, Berklee), Amadeus Alcântara (cello + pandeiro, MIT visiting student), Itay Dayan (clarinet, NEC), and Daniel Hurtado (bass, MIT visiting professor). She would like to thank Fred Harris, Luciana Souza, Miguel Zenon, Jason Yeager, John Harbison, and Laura Grill Jaye for their continued help and support.

— Mta.mit.edu