Submitted by Naakai Addy ’12:
Come and see the Wesleyan University Gamelan, Orchestra, and Ensemble Singers perform the beautiful music of Lou Harrison tonight at 8:00 PM in Crowell Concert Hall. Admission is free, and all are welcome!
More about the event:
The Lou Harrison celebration will be put on tonight with the participation of the Wesleyan University Gamelan (Sumarsam and I.M. Harjito, directors), the Wesleyan Ensemble Singers, the Wesleyan University Orchestra (Angel Gil-Ordóñez, music director) and Lisa Moore, piano. A singular figure in 20th-century American music, Lou Harrison pioneered in absorbing the fragrance of Indonesian gamelan into Western formats and genres, achieving a seamless cultural synthesis many attempt but few attain. His Piano Concerto is a little-known American masterpiece (it has been called the “great American concerto” by Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed). His Strict Songs celebrate the spiritual wholeness he discovered on the West Coast upon leaving the stress and noise of Manhattan.
This concert is part of a larger collection of concerts put on by the Post-Classical Ensemble, a group based in Washington D.C. for which Angel Gil-Ordóñez is the musical director. He will be bringing the Wesleyan Gamelan to Washington D.C. to perform in the festival Sublime Confluence: The Music of Lou Harrison! Be sure to get out to Crowell tonight to see this performance. It will certainly be one of the few times that the Gamelan, Orchestra, and Ensemble Singers will occupy the same stage.
- Date: Today, Saturday, February 26
- Time: 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
- Place: Crowell Concert Hall
- Cost: Free