duoJalal

7:00 Composer’s Chat with Evan Ziporyn Master percussionist and frame drum virtuoso Yousif Sheronick has performed at the Williams Center twice with Ethos Percussion Ensemble and twice with frame drum mentor Glen Velez. He returns in duoJalal, with his wife and musical partner Kathryn Lockwood, a brilliant violist and a perfect complement to Sheronick’s cultural curiosities in contemporary music and performance traditions from different parts of the world. Their Lafayette performance concentrates on the poetry and musical kinships suggested by the towering body of work of Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic. Some pieces are creations by contemporary composers anchored in musical traditions of ancient peoples, as “Summer in the High Grassland” based on the Mongolian folk song “Morin Khuur” (“Horsehead Fiddle”) and “Eternal Return” by Iranian composer Hafez Nazari. Also on the program are two new works specifically commissioned for duoJalal’s Rumi project: “Shadow and Light” by Russian-born violist Ljova Zhurbin, and music by Evan Ziporyn, former ensemble member of Bang on a Can All Stars and an adherent to musical traditions of Bali. Lockwood will create a wide range of musical effects from her viola in the course of the program, ranging from the haunting and melancholic resonance of her bowed passages to rhythmic and dance-like patterns of plucked strings, taps, and strummed chords. Sheronick’s array of drums and other percussion treasures extend from djembe, dayereh (Persian tambourine), kanjira (South Indian tambourine), cymbal, and vibraphone to kanjira, shaker Tibetan prayer bowl, and Udu, a Nigerian clay pot. The new work by Evan Ziporyn is a commission from Lafayette College in honor of Alan and Wendy Pesky, who created the college’s artist-in-residence program, now in its third decade. Yousif Sheronick served the Residency three years ago and collaborated, as a member of Ethos, with previous Alan and Wendy Pesky Artist-in-Residence Diane Monroe in 1995.