ROCHESTER, NY — The world may seem a little smaller this month when the Eastman School of Music presents three concerts of music from around the globe. Mandolins, dulcimers, drums, flutes and gongs will resonate along Gibbs Street in a series of concerts that highlight some of the world’s most beautiful and engaging musical traditions. The concerts are connected with several course-offerings through Eastman’s Summer Session program, and offer concert-goers the opportunity to be transported to unfamiliar lands and cultures. Featured performers will include internationally known musicians from abroad, Eastman students and local community members.
The concert schedule is as follows:
Gamelan Concert
Monday, July 10 · 7:30 p.m. · Ciminelli Formal Lounge, 100 Gibbs Street · Free
The golden sounds of Bali will flow from Ciminelli Formal Lounge on July10 during the culminating event of the School’s annual Balinese Gamelan Institute. The gamelan ensemble, which is traditionally played outdoors, will consist of gongs, drums, metallophones and flutes interlocking in a dizzying and beautiful array of other-worldly sounds. Led by I Nyoman Suadin, a Balinese arts master from Indonesia, and Clay Greenberg, Director of the Institute, the group will perform traditional music from Bali, a small island from the Southeast Asian archipelago of Indonesia. This concert is free and open to the public.
Arabic Music: Past and Present
Thursday, July 13 · 7:30 p.m. · Kilbourn Hall
Beautiful melodies and energetic rhythmic patterns will be heard at Eastman when Egyptian native George Sawa and his wife Suzanne Meyers Sawa perform the music of Egypt on traditional instruments, including the middle eastern psaltry (a kind of autoharp without keys), the nay (Egyptian flute), the darabukka (a goblet drum), and the tambourine. In addition to performing classical and folk repertoire from the 19 th and 20 th centuries, the duo will also play music from the 17 th century Ottoman court. This concert is the culminating event in Eastman’s week-long Arabic Music Institute, in which students have been learning the history, philosophies and techniques of this region’s rich musical tradition. General admission tickets are $8, $5 for University of Rochester faculty and staff and free for students with ID.
Mitzie Collins and Friends: World Music
Wednesday, July 19 · 7:30 p.m. · Kilbourn Hall
Renowned Rochester performer Mitzie Collins and a host of popular world musicians present their annual summer concert, a blockbuster favorite among Eastman audiences for more than a decade. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Collins is known nationally and internationally as a virtuoso player of the hammered dulcimer and the founder of her own recording label, Sampler Records Ltd.
This year’s concert is a veritable tour around the world, touching Ireland, Italy, Russia, the Carribbean, and New York State. The concert wlll open with East Rochester’s Celtic Music Society a group of high school students led by Mark Gowman, who will perform traditional and arranged Celtic music on fiddles, penny whistles, low whistles, guitars and percussion. The evening will continue with Quartteto Aceto, a local family of musicians who will perform Neapolitan tunes from Italy that have been handed down through their grandfather. The program will continue with Russian Romances performed by vocalist Marina Voronina and pianist Allisan Dains, both of whom currently study at Eastman. After Russia, the concert will work its way back to New York State, as Mitzie Collins and Jim Kimball perform folk tunes from our region on the hammered dulcimer and fiddle. Finally, the concert will end in the Caribbean with the Panloco Steel Band under the direction of Ted Canning, and Afro-caribbean drumming performed by Ian Gendreau. General admission tickets are $8, $5 for University of Rochester faculty and staff, and free for students with ID.
Tickets for the concerts that require paid admission are available at the RPO Box office, 108 East Avenue, (585-454-2100); online at www.esm.rochester.edu/concerts, and at the Eastman Ticket Office in the School’s Main Hall on the day of the concert from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Any unsold seats go on sale one hour before concert time at the respective hall box office. Tickets are not required for the Gamelan Concert or the Arabic Music concert. For up-to-date program information, please call the School’s 24-hour MusicLine at 274-1100.
# # #