Fall Signature Series: Sudanese Music, Nosferatu, Toto La Momposina, Joyce Moreno

The Signature Series at Berklee presents an extraordinary fall season of performances by Berklee students, faculty, and alumni, and world-renowned musicians.

August 17, 2015

The Signature Series at Berklee presents an extraordinary season of performances by Berklee students, faculty, and alumni, and world-renowned musicians. The fall 2015 half of the series features a celebration of Sudanese music; the live premiere of a new, student-penned score to the classic horror film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror; Colombian singer and dancer Totó La Momposina; and Brazilian singer-songwriter Joyce Moreno. 

All concerts take place at the Berklee Performance Center (BPC), except Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror on October 30, at Boston Symphony Hall. The BPC is located at 136 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. Purchase tickets at berklee.edu/bpc or at the BPC box office. Call 617-747-2261 for more information. Symphony Hall is located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. Purchase tickets at bso.org or by calling 888-266-1200. Both venues are wheelchair accessible. 

Thursday, October 22 - Al-Murtaja: A Celebration of Sudanese Music

Sudan is heir to an extremely rich tradition of musical, dramatic, and artistic expression, and has a long history of music that has not been well-exposed or documented due to civil and political turmoil. Al-Murtaja can be translated as “the thing—or person—people are waiting for.” This concert fulfills that wish by featuring musicians from all parts of Sudan and South Sudan to create a sense of shared cultural identity.

Legendary Sudanese musicians Abu Araki Al Bakheit, Emmanuel Jal, Asim Gorashi, and Mohamed Tahir perform their own music and traditional Sudanese music with an international student group led by Sudanese student Mohamad Araki. Admission: $8/$12 in advance, $12/$16 day of show. 8:00 p.m.

Friday, October 30 - Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

The Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart, in collaboration with Berklee, present the classic 1922 silent film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror with a completely new symphonic score written by eight of Berklee’s finest student film composers. The composers are all students in Berklee’s Scoring Silent Films course taught by Sheldon Mirowitz, who also leads the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra.

The Boston Pops, under Lockhart’s direction, will perform the score, which features less-common instruments like the theremin and a vintage synthesizer panel, to accompany a projection of this iconic film. This will be the first time in its history that the Boston Pops performs to a full-length silent film. Admission: $37-$47. 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, November 5 - Totó La Momposina Meets Berklee

Colombian singer, dancer, and teacher Totó La Momposina embodies the mingling of Colombia’s African, Indigenous Indian and Spanish cultures that created a unique musical tradition. La Momposina emerged as a singer in the 1950s and formed her own band in the 1960s. She cemented her global fame in the 1990s with a WOMAD tour across three continents, the release of La Candela Viva, and the many international shows and recordings that followed.

La Momposina will perform her songbook with a large student ensemble, playing arrangements by contemporary writing and production majors. The concert is produced by Grammy-winning bassist Oscar Stagnaro and directed by Matthew Nicholl, chair of the Contemporary Writing and Production Department and executive director of the Mediterranean Music Institute. Admission:  $8/$12 in advance, $12/$16 day of show. 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, December 10 - Joyce Moreno Meets Berklee

Brazilian singer-songwriter Joyce Moreno is a gifted guitarist and distinctive vocalist whose lyrics emphasize the feminine first-person. Moreno’s career started in the late 1960s, but it was with her 1980 album Feminina that she became widely known in Brazil. Her most recent recording is Raiz. Moreno’s compositions have been featured in film, TV, and theater, and she is a four-time Latin Grammy nominee.

For this concert, Moreno has chosen arrangements of her songs by contemporary writing and production majors to perform with a large student ensemble. Faculty members Fernando Brandao, John Stein, and Matthew Nicholl, chair of the Contemporary Writing and Production Department and executive director of the Mediterranean Music Institute, direct the concert. Admission: $8/$12 in advance, $12/$16 day of show. 8:00 p.m.