“Waking Up!” is an hour-long jazz suite inspired by Greta Thunberg's galvanizing "How dare you!" speech at the UN (2019). The work is a reflection on the need for deep witness and collective action, centering improvisation as a language of exploration and possibilities for these times. A recording of Waking Up! was released on Bandcamp in 2023.

The Five Agents ensemble is Jerry Sabatini (trumpet), Seth Meicht (tenor saxophone), Anthony Leva (bass), Curt Newton (drumset), and Eric Hofbauer (guitar, composition).

This performance will be accompanied by a UMass Amherst Jazz Dance class taught by Lauren Cox.

Kicking off the event “Awakening” (working title). The schedule is:

4:30 p.m. — Waking Up: A Jazz Performance by Eric Hofbauer / The Five Agents

5:30­ p.m. — Ripple Effects: Reflections on Water in Story and Sound. Part of the multi-year arts and humanities project Elements with Evan MacCarthy and Marjorie Rubright from The Renaissance of the Earth

6 p.m. – Landscape of Fear, Saxophone performance with Jonathan Hulting-Cohen 

6:30 p.m. – Ghost Ensemble, performance with Ben Richter