Miami, Feb. 6, 2024 – Looking for something different to do this Valentine’s Day? The Arts and Philosophy department at Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Wolfson Campus will present a free concert by vocalist Sara Serpa at noon on Wednesday, Feb. 14, as part of its popular Jazz at Wolfson Presents series, now running for over 25 years. This and all Jazz at Wolfson Presents concerts are free and open to the public.
A native of Lisboa, Portugal, Serpa is a singer, composer and improviser. Through her practice and performance, she explores the use of the voice as an instrument. Inspired by literature, film, visual arts, nature and history, Serpa has been working in the jazz world since moving to New York in 2008. The New York Times described her as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook.” JazzTimes magazine has called her “a master of wordless landscapes.”
As a leader, Serpa has produced and released 10 albums, the most recent titled Intimate Strangers (2021) and Recognition (2020). Intimate Strangers, is a collaboration with Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma, an interdisciplinary musical performance that portrays the writer’s travels in several African countries. Recognition is a singular multi-disciplinary work that traces the historical legacy of Portuguese colonialism in Africa through moving image and sound.
Serpa was voted 2020 NPR Jazz Vocalist, Rising Star-Female Vocalist 2019 by the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, and teaches at The New School. She is a recipient of the 2022 NYFA Artist Fellowship, 2022 Copland’s Recording Fund, 2022 and 2021 USArtists Grant from Mid-Atlantic Foundation for the Arts, 2020 New York City Women’s Fund and 2019 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant 2019. 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.
She has performed in Europe, Australiaand North and South America, singing at international festivals such as Bergamo Jazz Festival, Festa do Jazz, the Panama Jazz Festival, Festival de Jazz de Montevideo, Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Adelaide Festival and Sopot Jazz Festival or venues like Bimhuis, Casa da Música, Village Vanguard, Jazz Standard, The Stone, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, the Met Breuer and the Kennedy Center for the Arts, among others.
About Jazz at Wolfson Presents
Jazz at Wolfson Presents is Miami-Dade County’s longest continuously running free jazz series. All concerts are open to the public year-round at MDC Wolfson Campus in the heart of downtown Miami. Jazz at Wolfson Presents is funded in part with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County mayor and the Board of County Commissioners through the Hannibal Cox Jr. Cultural Grants Program. MDC’s Jazz at Wolfson Presents features live performances that run monthly from September through April. To view the complete list of concerts and for more information, visit www.mdc.edu/jazzatwolfson.
MDC’s Jazz at Wolfson Presents series features live monthly performances from September through April.
WHAT: Jazz at Wolfson Presents Vocalist Sara Serpa
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 14, at noon
WHERE: Wolfson Campus, Auditorium (Building 1, Room 1261)
300 N.E. 2nd Ave.
For more information, please contact Monica D’anetra at 305-237-3721.