Sara Serpa “Encounters & Collisions” at City Of Asylum's Jazz Poetry Month at City Of Asylum @ Alphabet City

Portuguese vocalist-composer Sara Serpa presents her new work “Encounters and Collisions,” a commission from Chamber Music America. The project draws inspiration from Ethiopian-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....

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Portuguese vocalist-composer Sara Serpa presents her new work “Encounters and Collisions,” a commission from Chamber Music America. The project draws inspiration from Ethiopian-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
Erik Friedlander: cello
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

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