LEWISTON — Demonstrating the bold diversity of music performed at the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, Bates College will present two distinctly different performances on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 29-30.
Saturday will bring an evening of chamber music featuring Maine musicians and music by Mozart, Faure and Dvorak. The following evening, the world-music band Red Baraat will perform.
Presenting the chamber music program will be four performers representing three Maine colleges and some prominent Maine musical organizations.
Pianist James Parakilas is the James L. Moody Jr. Family Professor of Performing Arts of Bates. A music scholar as well as performing musician, he is editor of the musical-social history “Piano Roles: 300 Years of Life with the Piano” and author of the forthcoming textbook “The Story of Opera.”
Violinist Mary Hunter, a member of the music faculty at Bowdoin College, is a musicologist with interests in 18th-century opera, gender and music; music in film; and the history of performance. She is author of “The Culture of Opera Buffa in Mozart’s Vienna,” which won the American Musicological Society’s Kinkeldey Prize.
Heather Cook is principal violist with the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Philharmonic, and has taught music and performed as a freelancer in Michigan and New York City.
Steven Witkin is principal cellist with the Colby (College) Symphony Orchestra, in addition to his chamber performances. He is also a practicing ophthalmologist.
Red Baraat, from the streets of New York City, melds the North Indian wedding music called “bhangra” with funk, go-go, Latin and jazz, forging high-energy dance music.
Led by Sunny Jain, who plays the Indian drum called a “dhol,” the nine-piece band incorporates additional percussion and a host of brass. The band won major recognition with its album debut ,”Chaal Baby,” which was used in promoting the hit FX TV show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
Both performances will be at 7:30 p.m. at Olin Arts, 75 Russell St. Admission for Saturday’s event is free, but tickets are required. Email olinarts@bates.edu. Tickets to the Red Baraat concert are $15/$10, available at batestickets.com. Free tickets are available for the first 100 seniors or students. To reserve, email olinarts@bates.com.
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- World-music band Red Baraat, which melds the North Indian wedding music called “bhangra” with funk, go-go, Latin and jazz, will perform Sunday, Sept. 30, at Bates College.
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