Alexia Riner was one of several students selected to travel with Berklee’s Interdisciplinary Arts Institute Ensemble to Salvador da Bahia, Brazil in July 2014. The trip included an exchange at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), where BIAI members collaborated with UFBA students and share their research in interdisciplinary production, modular synthesizer design, and interactive music apps, and culminated in a concert at the 3rd Bahia Biennale at the Goethe-Institut theater. Read more with our student blog posts from Brazil, view Alexia’s photos from the trip, or read the official press releases in English and Portuguese.
Going to Brazil on behalf of the Berklee Interdisciplinary Arts Institute was an unforgettable experience. We were exposed to an entirely new culture that opened my eyes and ears to the arts of Brazil.
Before going we studied the music of enigmatic Swiss/Brazilian musican Walter Smetak. He worked as a cellist, luthier, improvisor and had a major and mentored Brazilian luminaries Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. Smetak won a prize for research in the 1st Biennale and taught at the Universidade Federal da Bahia that hosted our exchange along with the Biennale.