Jazz Poetry Month: Sara Serpa “Encounters & Collisions”

With the health, well-being, and comfort of all as our top priorities, City of Asylum requires that our staff, artists, and all those attending an event be fully vaccinated. Please click here to learn more about our Covid 19 policies. 

Portuguese vocalist-composer Sara Serpa presents her new work “Encounters and Collisions,” a commission from Chamber Music America. The project draws inspiration from Somali-Italian writer Igiaba Scego’s book My Home is Where I Am.

Encounters & Collisions combines music, text, images and media to reflect on ideas of identity and migration influenced by Scego’s writings on the post-colonial relationships between African and Europe.

Sara first performed at city of Asylum in Jazz Poetry 2019, presenting an earlier work commissioned by Chamber Music America that went on to be recorded and subsequently nominated by the NYTimes as 2021 best album of the year. We are excited to welcome her back to Pittsburgh.

Featured Musicians

Sara Serpa: voice, composition
Chris Tordini: bass
Ingrid Laubrock: saxophone
Angelica Sanchez: piano

Sara Serpa is a vocalist-composer and improviser who implements a unique instrumental approach to her vocal style. Recognized for her distinctive wordless singing, Serpa has been described by the New York Times as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook,” and by JazzTimes magazine as “a master of wordless landscapes.” Serpa currently teaches at The New School, New Jersey City University and is Artist-In-Residence at Park Avenue Armory. She is the recipient of Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant 2019, New Music USA 2019, New York City’s Women’s Fund 2020, USArtists Grant from Mid-Atlantic Foundation for the Arts, and the 2021 Herb Alpert/Ragdale Prize in Composition. Serpa has been active in gender equity in music and is the co-founder (along with fellow musician Jen Shyu) of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M3), an organization created to empower and elevate women and non-binary musicians. www.saraserpa.com

About your visit: 

Remember you can dine at the in-house restaurant 40 North before, during, or after the show. Please visit Open Table or call 412-435-111 to make a reservation.