East Meets West and Other Musical Marriages

Wherever cultures meet, musical styles mingle, join, and evolve. Travel with us through Asia and the Middle East, through Asia and the Middle East, through South and North America, and explore our planet’s rich and varied choral cultures.

Magen Solomon explains: “In this program of ‘mixed marriages’ we hear Eastern musical styles, tone production, and harmonies meet those of the West; and witness unusual juxtapositions, like an American folksong as Renaissance polyphony, a Finnish setting of Spanish surrealist poetry. And the marriage of vocal melodies and harmonies with the rhythm of diverse percussion instruments. A whirlwind trip of musical styles, sounds and colors!”

Celebrated percussionist Peter Maund joins the choir for this unusual exploration. Described by the Glasgow Herald as “the most considerate and imaginative of percussionists,” Maund will enrich the journey with hand drums such as doumbek, tambourine (riqq), frame drums, djembe, and other instruments, in realizations and improvisations of North African and Middle Eastern music, traditional European practices from Ireland, Turkey, and Bavaria, and folk traditions from Central African, South American, and South Asian cultures.

The Choral Artists, a cappella and together with Maund, will bring to audiences choral music in eight languages, drawing from the traditions of China, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Finland, Eastern Europe, Africa, South America, and the Middle East. The music spans multiple centuries, and includes stunning works by Robin Estrada, Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Peter Schickele, and the premiere of new pieces by Jean Ahn, Elinor Armer, and Paul Chihara.