The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will spotlight three composers in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts. All three are known for taking the smallest components of their music and transforming them in brilliant ways to show how contrasting passages can share many of the same fundamental features.
The performance will include music from mid-20th century Czech composer Miloslav Kabeláč, who developed inspiration from a divine cosmic order of stars into The Mystery of Time; German composer Johannes Brahms who looked to the stately St. Anthony Chorale of Joseph Haydn for his inspiration in the piece Variations on a Theme by Haydn; and American composer Samuel Barber, who took the contrasts of a four-movement symphonic form and combined them into a unified piece titled Symphony in One Movement.
The Philharmonia, conducted by Music Director Andrew Kohler, unites students, faculty, amateur musicians and professional musicians of a variety of ages to perform symphonic music. Having grown since its inception in 1990, the ensemble has been recognized as an arts organization of high importance in greater Kalamazoo.
Tickets are available at the door and cost $7 for general admission, $3 for students, and are free for students of Kalamazoo College. For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, in the Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts.
Two Kalamazoo College music ensembles, the Bayati Ensemble and College Singers, will blend their instrumental and vocal talents in a unified concert this Sunday, February 25.
The Bayati Ensemble specializes in Middle Eastern music. Its members range from people who grew up with Middle Eastern music and culture to others who are learning about it for the first time. The group is co-directed by Associate Processor of Music Beau Bothwell and Ahmed Tofiq. The College Singers, led by Associate Professor of Music and Director Chris Ludwa, includes about 30 students who are music majors and non-music majors, offering a different approach to choral singing with a focus on social justice.
The free concert is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Dalton Theatre. For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
The Bayati Ensemble was created from the Bahar Ensemble, a group of five professional members, who played Middle Eastern music and performed frequently at events in Kalamazoo.
A handful of musical classics such as The Girl from Ipanema, Unforgettable, Red Clay, Nutville and Dat Dere will highlight the Kalamazoo College Jazz Band winter concert—themed “Inside the Night Café”—this Friday, February 23.
The ensemble, directed by Professor of Music Thomas Evans, pulls together an expansive collection of contemporary and classic jazz arrangements to provide the students participating and audiences with an electric experience. This group varies in size each year, making the music selections continuously diverse and exciting.
The concert, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Dalton Theatre, is free and open to the public, although free-will donations are gratefully accepted.
For more information on the concert, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
Help an audience honor the career of Kalamazoo College Director of Bands and Professor of Music Tom Evans at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the winter concert for the Academy Street Winds.
Evans, the ensemble’s director, plans to retire at the end of the academic year. Friday’s concert theme, “It’s About Time,” reflects his own feeling regarding retirement and affirms musical selections that will explore teaching or the ephemeral values of time. The ensemble’s website says the program will present a delightful mix of music, sometimes whimsical and sometimes poignant, that will put a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and a bit of melancholy in your soul as you consider the fleeting quality of time.
Evans’ career began on the podium and in the classroom in 1976. He has been with K for 29 years and leads groups such as the College’s Symphonic Band, Jazz Band and Pep Band in addition to the Academy Street Winds. He also teaches the popular Beginning Band class, which—in about eight weeks every spring—teaches students who have never learned a band instrument the basics of playing one of their choice. In 2020, he and Department of Music Chair Andrew Koehler both received the Community Medal of Arts from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, recognizing their contributions to the city’s arts scene.
Music Professor Tom Evans rehearses his trombone with Rushik Patel ’22 at Light Fine Arts. Evans, the director of the Academy Street Winds, will retire at the end of the 2023–24 academic year.
The Dalton Theatre concert is free and open to the public, but goodwill donations are gratefully accepted.
“Finding the right words to express my gratitude to my students, my colleagues, and the College is difficult,” Evans said. “Clearly, they’ve been some of the best experiences and years of my life. I am sincerely grateful to all who have supported me. And I am especially grateful for those with whom I’ve had the pleasure of making music. While my years at K were meaningful and momentous for me, I also hope that they were meaningful and momentous for those who shared my journey. How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
A national tour featuring a period chamber orchestra without a conductor will make its final stop in the Great Lakes at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts, 1140 Academy St.
Relic connects with audiences through intimate, imaginative and dramatic representations of early music. This performance’s instrumentation will include violins, violas, cellos, bassoon, basses, theorbos and harpsichords in a concert titled Enchanted Forest.
As a whole, the ensemble will tell stories of dancing elves, frolicking nymphs, marching trolls and more through drama and curiosities through English and French baroque. General admission tickets are available for $10 through EventBrite. Kalamazoo College students will be admitted free.
Kalamazoo College’s International Percussion ensemble will conclude the music department’s fall season of concerts at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts.
Several displays of solos, group drumming and collaborations will highlight Taiko and steelpan performances with other complementary instruments from these cultures. International Percussion Ensemble Director Carolyn Koebel will lead the Taiko group. Visiting Instructor of Music Jean Raabe will direct the steelpan performers.
The ensemble unites individuals with varied musical backgrounds from K, nearby institutions and the general community. The concert is free and the public is invited. For more information on this event and others sponsored by the Department of Music, visit music.kzoo.edu/events, call 269.337.7070 or email Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
Taiko drummers will be among the performers featured Wednesday, November 15.
Bring your dancing shoes to swing and sway in the aisles for the Kalamazoo College Jazz Band fall concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 10, in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts.
The free performance’s theme will be Giants Walk Among Us, which is also the title of the first song. The opener, by Rich Woolworth, features a trumpet and saxophone solo. The concert then will spotlight more songs by the “giant” composers of jazz and eight other solos for saxophone, both alto and tenor, while featuring Isabella Pellegrom ’25, a guest vocalist, with favorites such as Scarborough Fair.
Afterward, make plans to attend the Kalamazoo Philharmonia fall concert, titled In the Bloom of Youth, at 3 p.m. on Sunday, November 12, in the Dalton Theatre. The performance will feature the works of composers who died young including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Othello Suite; Lili Boulanger’s Psalm 129; and Vasily Kalinnikov’s Symphony No. 1 in G.
The Philharmonia unites students, faculty, amateur musicians and professional musicians of a variety of ages to perform symphonic music. Having grown since its inception in 1990, the ensemble has been recognized as an arts organization of importance in greater Kalamazoo.
For more information on both concerts and ensembles, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia fall concert, titled “In the Bloom of Youth,” is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday, November 12, in the Dalton Theatre.
Join the College Singers for an eclectic mix of great songs by Queen, Prince, Beyonce and more while exploring music from the Renaissance to today. The open-to-the-public fall concert, titled Casino Royale, is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday in the Dalton Theatre lobby.
The ensemble, led by Associate Professor of Music and Director Chris Ludwa, includes about 30 students who are music majors and non-music majors, offering a different approach to choral singing with a focus on social justice.
The concert is free, although donations are appreciated. For more information on the performances, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
The College Singers will perform in their fall concert from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday in the Dalton Theatre lobby.
The Academy Street Winds will open its 2023–24 season with an all-Celtic program titled Celtic Mist and Magic at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 27, at Dalton Theatre.
Some of the programmed tunes will include Loch Lomond, Danny Boy, Irish Washer Woman and Riverdance. The Scottish and Irish Societies of Kalamazoo will also be on hand to display an array of kilts, plaids, flags and information booths. Plus, a piper will call the concert to order followed by the Academy Street Singers in a candlelight procession performing Skye Boat Song.
The Academy Street Winds, formerly known as the Kalamazoo College Symphonic Band, functions as a beloved creative outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities. Director of Bands and Professor of Music Thomas Evans serves as the group’s conductor.
The concert is free and open to the public. The Department of Music recommends that attendees arrive by 7 p.m. to experience pre-show activities and reserve seats. For more information, contact the music department at 269.337.7070 or susan.lawrence@kzoo.edu.
The Academy Street Winds will conduct its first concert of the season, titled “Celtic Mist and Magic,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Dalton Theatre.
The Virupannavar Family Merging Rivers Endowed Fund for Hindu Faith and Cultural Studies at Kalamazoo College is sponsoring and organizing a free concert of devotional Indian classical music on Tuesday, October 3, at 7 p.m. in Stetson Chapel.
The concert’s title, Bhakti Rasamanjari, includes references to devotional worship emphasizing mutual attachment and love of a devotee and a personal god; essence, in particular the characteristic quality of music, literature and drama; and the blossom that flowers on a tree before the fruit, according to Chandrashekhar and Sushila Virupannavar. The couple established the fund to enhance experiences for current and future students while honoring the opportunities K offered two of their children who graduated from K.
“Like all art forms in Indian culture, Indian classical music and dance art are believed to be a divine art form, originating from the Hindu gods and goddesses,” the Virupannavars said.
Utsad Rais Balekhan and Utsad Hafiz Balekhan will be among the musicians performing Indian classical music at 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 3, in Stetson Chapel.
The concert features world-famous, seventh-generation Hindustani vocalists and sitarists the Khan Brothers—Utsad Rais Balekhan and Utsad Hafiz Balekhan.
Hindustani music is associated with north India and primarily uses Hindi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Urdu and Braj Bhasha languages. The sitar is a plucked, stringed instrument used in Hindustani classical music. A sitar can have from 18 to 21 strings, with six or seven running over curved, raised frets and being played directly, while the remainder resonate with the played strings.
The Khan Brothers will be accompanied by Atul Kamble on tabla and Shri Gangadhar Shinde on harmonium.
A tabla is a pair of small hand drums of slightly different shapes and sizes, somewhat similar in shape to bongos. A tabla is the principal percussion instrument in Indian classical music and is essential in the bhakti devotional traditions of Hinduism and Sikhism.
The harmonium is a stringed instrument that, in Indian music, is a portable, hand-pumped wooden box.
The Khan Brothers are of the Kirana/Dharwad gharana, which means they are part of a school of music tied to Kirana, a town in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India. The Kirana style emphasizes perfect intonation of notes. The city of Dharwad, where the Khan Brothers have seven generations of family roots, lies in a region particularly associated with the Kirana gharana.
The Virupannavars said the concert fits the focus of their family fund on Hindu faith and Indian cultural studies.
“This will be a display of Hindu devotional music, expressing love and devotion to one divinity,” Chandrashekhar said. “Secondly, it will be a beautiful display of Indian musical cultural tradition by eminent performers and esteemed scholars who come from our region in India.”
Merging Rivers in the fund’s name is borrowed from the 12th century Shiva saint Basava, who spread his messages in simple, short poems called vachanas, which ended with the Lord of the Merging Rivers, amplifying the concept of unity, union and oneness with the eternal.
The Virupannavar family expressed appreciation for the College’s support of the fund, including support from Sohini Pillai, assistant professor of religion and director of film and media studies, in helping to shape the fund’s focus and bring the concert to campus.
“Hopefully, this will be a long and beautiful journey,” Sushila said. “Two of our three children attended K, had a great education and became doctors. We are proud of their accomplishments and of our decision to send them here.”
The Virupannavars hope the concert inspires K students to learn about and try sitar and tabla. In service of that, the performers will also deliver a demonstration and talk to a music class the day of the concert.
“Kalamazoo is a renowned location on the world’s music map,” Chandrashekhar said. “Our family is excited to celebrate that great and long Kalamazoo music tradition, by adding a small element of Indian classical music essence, with a very sincere hope that it will grow and blossom.”
