Department of Music

• Sunday, March 29th, 2009
• Old Cabell Hall
• 12:00pm time changed from 3:30pm
• Free

World Music Festival featuring 7 ensembles from Virginia universities fosters cross-cultural understanding

The first ever Virginia World Music Festival will celebrate diversity and cross-cultural understanding, featuring performances by seven ensembles from UVA, the College of William and Mary, and the University of Richmond specializing in world musical traditions. The free concert will begin at noon and continue into the evening. Come when you can and stay as long as you like!

Participating ensembles will include the UVA African Music and Dance Ensemble under the direction of Associate Professor Michelle Kisliuk, the UVA Klezmer Ensemble led by Assistant Professor Joel Rubin, the William and Mary Middle Eastern Music Ensemble under the direction of Associate Professor Anne Rasmussen, the William and Mary Nordic Folk Music and Dance Ensemble run by Visiting Assistant Professor David Kaminsky, the William and Mary Appalachian Ensemble under the direction of UVA’s own Pete Frostic, Gamelan Raga Kusuma led by Assistant Professor Andrew McGraw of the University of Richmond, and the Charlottesville Javanese Gamelan under the leadership of ethnomusicologist Cynthia Benton-Groner of the College of William and Mary.

The UVA African Music and Dance Ensemble explores traditional music and dance forms from West Africa (Ghana, Togo) and Central Africa (BaAka pygmies). The UVA Klezmer Ensemble focuses on the music of the klezmorim, Jewish professional instrumentalists, performing repertoire from Eastern Europe and the United States of the 18th century to the present. The William and Mary Middle Eastern Music Ensemble performs music from the Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Armenian and Greek traditions that comprise the music of the Middle East, featuring instruments such as the ‘ud (11-stringed, pear shaped lute), qanun (72-stringed plucked zither), nay (reed flute), darabukah (vase-shaped, ceramic drum), riqq (tambourine with fish-skin head and heavy brass cymbals), and daff (frame drum). The William and Mary Nordic Folk Music and Dance Ensemble focuses on the Nordic folk music and dance revival movements, featuring the music of Sweden and other Scandinavian countries. The William and Mary Appalachian Ensemble covers a variety of Appalachian string band styles from the tradition’s Celtic roots to clawhammer banjo. The ensemble has been known to play songs from the Rolling Stones and other modern artists in addition to styles from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Gamelan Raga Kusuma is a community-based Balinese gamelan orchestra in residence at the University of Richmond, and the Charlottesville Gamelan is a community-based ensemble in Charlottesville focusing on the music of Java. Gamelans are the large, traditional percussion orchestras of Bali and Java within the Indonesian archipelago, comprising bronze and woodenxylophones, tuned gongs and drums. Members of the two orchestras will perform both separately and collaboratively as part of today’s performance.

In conjunction with the concert, there will be a Music Department colloquium on Friday, March 27, 2009 from 3:30-5:00 pm (Old Cabell Hall, room 107), on the topic of world music and the academy. Participants will include: David Kaminsky, Andrew McGraw, Cynthia Benton-Groner, Michelle Kisliuk, and Joel Rubin. Free and open to the public.

This is an Arts Enhancement event supported by the Provost’s Office to increase the awareness of and support for the arts at the University of Virginia.