Thursday, October 23rd at 5pm Lewis Music Library, MIT Light reception to followAbout the SpeakerDescribed as "sleek, new," "hyper-fluent" and “a composer that rocks” by the New York Times, Pascal Le Boeuf is a GRAMMY-award winning composer, jazz pianist, and producer whose works range from improvised music to hybridizing notation-based chamber music with production-based technology.Recent compositions include “Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?” commissioned by Akropolis Reed Quintet with drummer Christian Euman; “Imprints” for Alarm Will Sound; “Playground” commissioned by Orchestra of St. Lukes; “Triple Concerto” for violin, percussion duo and orchestra featuring Barbora Kolářová and Arx Duo; “I Am Not A Number” commissioned by New World Symphony; and “Out of the Gate” commissioned and premiered by Nu Deco Ensemble.Recent commercial recordings and videos include collaborations with Akropolis Reed Quintet & Christian Euman, Tasha Warren & Dave Eggar, Friction Quartet, JACK Quartet, Hub New Music, Todd Reynolds, Sara Caswell, Jessica Meyer, Nick Photinos, Four/Ten Media, Bec Plexus featuring Ian Chang (of Son Lux), Dayna Stephens, Linda May Han Oh, Justin Brown, and the Le Boeuf Brothers Quintet (co-led by Remy Le Boeuf) praised by the New Yorker for "clearing their own path, mixing the solid swing of the jazz tradition with hip-hop, indie rock, and the complex techniques of classical modernism".As a keyboardist, Pascal has played as support for D’Angelo’s Black Messiah tour and Clean Bandit’s Rather Be tour with Australian pop artist Meg Mac. He actively performs with Le Boeuf Brothers, Jessie Montgomery’s Everything Band, vocalist/technologist Jamie Lidell, saxophonist Jeff Coffin, jazz vocalist Allan Harris, and his piano trio "Pascal's Triangle".Pascal’s most recent awards include 2025 GRAMMY for “Best Instrumental Composition”, a 2024 Barlow Commission, a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2020 Copland House Residency Award, and various Independent Music Awards in “Jazz”, “Eclectic”, “Electronica” and “Music Video” categories. Pascal has received commissions and grants from NEA, New World Symphony, Nu Deco Ensemble, the Barlow Endowment, the Lake George Music Festival, Lincoln Center Stage, Chamber Music America, New Music USA, and ASCAP.Pascal is an Assistant Professor of Music at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he teaches music composition. Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor of the Practice of Music and Technology at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. He is a Harold W. Dodds Honorific Fellow and Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition at Princeton University.Pascal lives in the Boston area with his wife, composer Molly Herron and their two kids.About the Music Forum SeriesThe MIT Music & Theater Arts Music Forum is a series of public presentations by music scholars from inside and outside of MIT. Hosted in the Lewis Music Library and presented in partnership with MIT Libraries, the MTA Music Forum Series gives the MIT Community an opportunity to engage with leading voices in every field of music scholarship. Past presenters include John Harbison, Julia Wolfe, Terry Riley, Don Byron, and others.

The MIT List Visual Arts Center will host a performative lecture with Goldin+Senneby in celebration of the opening of Goldin+Senneby: Flare-Up.Swallow Image is a conversation about images of illness and the revision of reality by drug companies.At the beginning of the new millennium, Jakob Senneby squinted at a grayscale image of his brain while a doctor traced a series of white blobs on the screen. His doctor told him that these figures, captured by an MRI scan, were “white spots”: signs of damage to the nervous system that are associated with multiple sclerosis. In the following years, Senneby—one half of the artist duo Goldin+Senneby—cycled through experimental and largely ineffectual treatments, tracking the progress of the disease with each scan, with each crop of “attacks” launched by his immune system. As he lost faith in the drugs, Senneby learned that the white spots have proven to be a source of immense, hidden value: a booming economy is based on visualizing, counting, and measuring the spots in the development of pharmaceuticals. The drugs have become more and more successful in treating the white spots in the image, but not in addressing the onset of permanent disability—the most critical consequence of the disease. Nevertheless, the value of the market for treatments has reached nearly $30 billion per year.For Swallow Image, Goldin+Senneby will give a presentation on the evolution of “sick images”—depictions of illness that obscure the accounts of patients—and the lucrative market for MS drugs. The event picks up on Triple Canopy’s publication of two related works by Goldin+Senneby: "Spot Price," a blockchain-based artwork that links scans of Senneby’s diseased brain to the value of the drugs targeting such images; and “Regions of Interest,” an essay on living as a medical specimen and source of profit for drug companies.Following the program, please join us for the opening reception of the fall exhibitions, Goldin+Senneby: Flare-Up, American Artist: To Acorn, and List Projects 33: Every Ocean Hughes.

Silent Meditation in the Chapel on Thursdays 6-8pm, open to everyone in the MIT Community. Some sessions include Guided Meditation at 6:30pm.

Get an inside look at what recruiters from Formlabs look for in candidate portfolios. Learn which projects to highlight, how to make your work stand out, and tips for building a strong portfolio.This session is especially helpful if you're preparing for the MechE Career Expo on Friday, November 7. You'll also hear about MIT resources to support your portfolio development.We’re looking for a few volunteers to submit their portfolios for a live anonymized review by Formlabs recruiters. The recruiters will talk through their feedback on the portfolio during the session. This is a great opportunity to get real-time feedback and better understand how employers evaluate portfolios.Interested in volunteering your portfolio? Email it to Tavi Sookhoo (tsookhoo@mit.edu). We'll anonymize it and send it back for your approval before the session.This CAPD event is open to MIT undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and recent alumni.Registration is required for this event. Please register here.

Free and open to all!Join us for a cozy screening of Pride & Prejudice (PG) presented in collaboration with the PKG Public Service Center and the MIT Women’s League. Bring your craft projects along and feel free to sew or stitch while you watch; we’ll keep the lights up!Please note that seating is available on a first come, first served basis, regardless of registration.

Farming While Black (dir Mark Decena; 2023) Thur Oct 23 @ 7pm Room 3-133As the co-founder of Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York, Leah Penniman finds strength in the deep historical knowledge of African agrarianism – agricultural practices that can heal people and the planet. Influenced and inspired by Karen Washington, a pioneer in urban community gardens in New York City, and fellow farmer and organizer Blain Snipstal, Leah galvanizes around farming as the basis of revolutionary justice.In 1910, Black farmers owned 14 percent of all American farmland. Over the intervening decades, that number fell below two percent, the result of racism, discrimination, and dispossession. The film chronicles Penniman and two other Black farmers’ efforts to reclaim their agricultural heritage. Collectively, their work has a major impact as leaders in the sustainable agriculture and food justice movements.**Special Bonus!**We’ll also be screening the documentary short Soul City:Soul City (dir. Monica Berra, SheRea DelSol, Gini Richards; 2016)Soul City tells the story of a group of civil rights activists and city slickers who attempt to build a multiracial utopia in the heart of Klan Country, North Carolina in the 1970s. Their pioneering efforts to jumpstart this black-owned, black-built town run up against tenacious enemies that still face idealists and dreamers today–ingrained racism, public skepticism, and unwillingness on the part of the government to think outside the box to solve social problems. As this group of dreamers try to bring together unlikely allies to support black power and economic development, they are forced to balance their soaring idealism with the hostile reality of the times.Popcorn and movie candy provided; after the screening, please join us for a discussion of the themes explored in the films. This special event is co-sponsored by SCC, DUSP Rural, the DUSP Civil Rights Immersion Trek, the OGE Grad Experience Grants, and the DUSP Film Series.