The Geometry of Grief: Sara Bareilles and Michael Frame in Conversation

Grief is a deeply complex and profound human experience, one that can be difficult to make sense of through words alone. On December 3, 2026, join the iconic musician and composer Sara Bareilles and renowned mathematician Michael Frame for a conversation about how art and science can help us navigate grief. 

The event will take place at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m. Presented by Sing for Science, the event is supported by the Simons Foundation as part of its Infinite Sums national math initiative, which aims to illuminate the ways math manifests itself in culture. The conversation will be moderated by Matt Whyte, creator and host of Sing for Science, a science and music podcast and live event series.

Bareilles will perform a special three-song set to close the program.

Bareilles, a two-time Grammy winner, released her seventh studio album, Good Grief, on August 28, 2026. The acclaimed album was “born of profound loss and personal grief.” A documentary about the making of the album was also released in August.

Bareilles will be joined by the mathematician Michael Frame, who studied fractal geometry alongside the legendary Benoit Mandelbrot. Faced with the loss of his friend and mentor and other personal losses, Frame wrote Geometry of Grief, which details how human memories and mourning rituals operate just like fractals — layered and repeating across time. 

The book is being adapted into a short documentary of the same name. The event will feature a five-minute clip from the upcoming film, introduced by the film’s director, Neha Shastry. The documentary is produced by The Guardian, Sandbox Films and the Simons Foundation.

Learn more about the event and purchase tickets here.