Tufts Announces Upcoming Public Concerts

Tufts Small Jazz Concerts April 11th, 14th, & 18th

The Tufts University Department of Music is pleased to announce three performances by the Tufts Small Jazz Ensembles. All concerts will be held in the Granoff Music Center on the Medford/Somerville campus.

The first, entitled Spring is Here, will feature the Tufts Jazz Choir, led by Tisha Stadnicki, and an ensemble led by Tufts student Andrew Summerfield performing jazz, blues, funk, and soul music, including songs celebrating the arrival of spring. This performance will be Thursday, April 11, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. in the Fisher Performance Room.

The second concert features Nando Michelin’s small jazz ensembles performing an evening of world music with a jazz approach, as well as some jazz standards. This performance will be Sunday, April 14, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. in Distler Performance Hall.

Last, but not least, Scott Aruda and Paul Ahlstrand’s small jazz ensembles will be performing works by Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Jimmy Giuffre, Harold Land, Horace Silver, and Bill Evans. This concert will be held Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. in the Fisher Performance Room.

The Granoff Music Center is located at 20 Talbot Avenue on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus. Admission to each concert is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit as.tufts.edu/music/musiccenter or call the Granoff Music Center Box Office at 617.627.3679.

‘Freedom’, a concert by Tufts Third Day Gospel Choir, April 12th

The Tufts University Department of Music presents the Tufts Third Day Gospel Choir, directed by David Coleman, in their spring performance entitled “Freedom”. The concert will be held in Cohen Auditorium in the Aidekman Arts Center at Tufts University on Friday, April 12, 2013 at 8 p.m.

The Aidekman Arts Center is located at 40 Talbot Avenue on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus. Tickets are $7 for general admission. To purchase tickets, please call the Granoff Music Center Box Office at 617.627.3679.

UYON-UYOn Mat-Matan Traditional Gamelan Music from Central Java April 13th

The Tufts University Department of Music presents a concert by Rinengga Sih Tentrem, the Tufts gamelan Ensemble, and the Boston Village Gamelan, “Uyon-Uyon Mat-Matan: Traditional Gamelan Music from Central Java”, on Saturday, April 13, 2013 at 8 p.m. in the Distler Performance Hall at the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center located at 20 Talbot Avenue on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus.

The performance will also feature guest artist I.M. Harjito, a renowned Javanese musician and composer currently on the faculty of Wesleyan and Brown Universities. The ensembles are directed by Barry Drummond.

The Boston Village Gamelan, established in 1979, was one of the first independent gamelan ensembles in America dedicated to the traditional music of Central Java. The ensemble has been mentored by prominent Javanese musicians including I.M. Harjito, Sumarsam, and Wakidi Dwidjomartono. For more information on the BVG, view their website at: http://www.gamelanbvg.com/bvg/index.html. Gamelan at Tufts University consists of both ensemble courses in Javanese music and the residency of the Boston Village Gamelan.

Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit as.tufts.edu/music/musiccenter or call the Granoff Music Center Box Office at 617.627.3679.

Music from Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora with Tufts Takht April 14th

The Tufts University Department of Music presents Tufts Takht in Music from Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora in the Distler Performance Hall at the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center on Sunday, April 14, 2013 at 3 p.m. as part of the Sunday at Tufts – Community Concert Series.

Under the direction of Kareem Roustom, the performance will feature Tufts Takht, the Arab music ensemble, as well as guest artists oud player Mal Barsamian and violinist Beth Bahia Cohen.

The Granoff Music Center is located at 20 Talbot Avenue on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit as.tufts.edu/music/musiccenter or call the Granoff Music Center Box Office at 617.627.3679.

Rainforest: Interactive, Improvisational, Environmental, Audio-Visual Installation Featuring The McLean Mix April 24th

The Tufts University Department of Music and Art Gallery present a very special interactive installation called Rainforest by composer-performers Barton and Priscilla McLean, collectively known as “McLean Mix,” who will be in residence at the Aidekman Arts Center on Wednesday, April 24 and Thursday, April 25, 2013.

Rainforest is an audio/visual work based on the nocturnal impressions one receives in a tropical rainforest, inspired by actual recent expeditions by the McLeans to rainforests in the Amazon, Puerto Rico, The Everglades, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and most recently, an expedition to the jungles of Borneo, living with a former headhunter tribe.

Like the rainforest itself, this collaborative work has no beginning or ending, but rather the visitor/listener defines these, as well as the course of the work, by entering, interacting in various musical ways, and leaving.

The installation will take place in the Koppelman Gallery at the Aidekman Arts Center. Several stations around the room will be equipped with electronic and acoustic musical instruments where the visitor can input sound into the installation, which processes it and makes it part of the ongoing composition. Musicians and singers are encouraged to bring their own instruments and voices to add to the sound—there are no wrong notes or gestures. Visitors are encouraged to wander, listening to the kaleidoscope of sounds, while they are also enveloped by multiple slide projections of surrealistic images of the rainforest.

The installation will be open on April 24 from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., and from 3:00-8:30 p.m. On April 25, it will be open from 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Students, faculty, and friends with an interest in music, photography, art, film, environmental science, biology, computers, or the world around them will find Rainforest fascinating and beautiful.

A unique “behind-the-scenes” demonstration of the technology supporting the installation, hosted by Dr. Paul Lehrman, Tufts’ Director of Musical Engineering, will take place in the Koppelman Gallery on April 24 from 1:30-2:45 p.m. All are welcome.

Keyboard, in a recent feature article, said “The McLeans may be leading the way toward whatever lies beyond with their powerful organic/synthetic sound mixes, and unorthodox concept.” Musical America stated, “The McLeans’ music has an immediate appeal by virtue of its colorful, impressionistic textures, poetic texts, and abundance of concrete sounds.”

The McLean Mix has performed extensively in all sections of the U.S. and in a number of European countries in such forums as the Zagreb International Muzicki Biennale, and the Pacific Rim and Asia (Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Malaysia, Philippines). Recipients of six NEA grants, their music has been performed in most of the major music festivals of the world, such as Warsaw Autumn, Graz, Bourges, and Gaudeamus. For more information about the McLean Mix, visit http://www.fairpoint.net/~rainfor1.

Rainforest is presented by the Tufts University Department of Music and the Granoff Music Fund, with the generous support of the Tufts University Art Gallery.

The Aidekman Arts Center is located at 40 Talbot Avenue on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit as.tufts.edu/music/musiccenter or call the Granoff Music Center Box Office at 617.627.3679.

– Information from Tufts University