Wed. May 20 7:30pm
The Earplay Ensemble (San Francisco)
Earplay 24: Lyrical Kaleidoscopes (World Premiere)
Herbst Theatre, Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue (@ McAllister)
$20 General Admission. Series Discounts Available
Go Here for Information on discount tickets.
BOX-OFFICE: 800-838-3006
Presented by Earplay.

SFIAF 2009 will kick-off with a performance by the Earplay Ensemble, SFIAF's longest running presenting partners, having contributed performances to all six festivals. The international program will include a new commissioned work by the ground breaking Greek composer, Nicolas Tzortzis, the winner of this year's Earplay Donald Aird Memorial Composition Competition. Tzortzis will travel from his home in Paris to attend the world premiere of the piece. There will also be a new commissioned work by French Canadian composer Linda Bouchard, who will be in attendance. Compositions by Elliot Carter and Olivier Messiaen will complete the evening.

Thu. May 21 7:00pm
Smita Nagdev (India, U.S. Debut)
Classical Indian Sitar Concert
The Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin Street (@ McAllister)
Buy tickets at door.

Presented by SFIAF, the Sangati Center and the Asian Art Museum.

North Indian classical music's rising sitar player Smita Nagdev delivers her American debut performance. A protégé of the legendary sarod player Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Smita draws from a deeply nuanced, improvisatory musical tradition in order to craft an experience of awakening and peace through music. She is accompanied on the tabla by Debopriyo "Bubai" Sarkar.

ARTIST INFORMATION

Thur. May 21 8pm
Cheryl E. Leonard, Marielle Jakobsons, Kevin Shea Adams (San Francisco)
Sounding Out California
The Luggage Store, 1006 Market Street (@ Sixth Street)
$6-$10 sliding scale; Buy tickets at door

Presented by NexMap.

Embracing the notion of hybridity, Sounding Out California was originally a NEXMAP 2007 state wide competition that invited composers from a wide range of musical traditions to send in their music. The result was a full CD featuring five emergent artists launched in 2008. This concert proudly presents three of its winners.

ARTIST INFORMATION

Fri. May 22 8pm, Sat. 23 2:00pm, Sun. 24 2:00pm
Gamelan Sekar Jaya (San Francisco & Bali)
SERASI: Three Evenings (and Thirty Years) of
Balinese Music and Dance
The Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason Center
$25 Reserved Seating, $20 in advance. Series Discounts Available.
Go Here for Information on discount tickets.
BOX-OFFICE: 800-838-3006
Presented by Gamelan Sekar Jaya and the Asian Art Museum.

Joined by Guest Artists-in-Residence, I Dewa Putu Berata (musician) and Emiko Saraswati Susilo (dancer) from Bali, Gamelan Sekar Jaya — acclaimed internationally for its innovative work with the music and dance of Bali — performs a dazzling array of pieces as it celebrates thirty years of artistic interchange with Bali. Spanning works both centuries old and newly created, GSJ will focus on themes that have helped define the fifty-member "Bay Area treasure" (Dancetera): balance, harmony, and collaboration across cultures.

ARTIST INFORMATION  |  ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Fri.-Sat. May 22-23 8pm
ROVA Saxophone Quartet (San Francisco, Germany, Switzerland)
Rovaté 2009: Fissures, Futures
Jewish Community & Cultural Center, 3200 California Street
$25 Reserved Seating, $20 in advance. Series Discounts Available.
Go Here for Information on discount tickets.
BOX-OFFICE: 800-838-3006
Presented by ROVA: Arts.

An ambitious improvisational music project sees ROVA joined by a team of composer-musicians and Berlin media artist Lillevan that will use digital animation to create "visual music." The project is a continuation of Rova's recent foray into employing the visual arts as either an inspiration for, or an actual tool in the creation of original music. Special guests include analogue electronics genius Thomas Lehn from Germany, and avant-garde viola master Charlotte Hug from Switzerland. Additionally USA-based musician/composers, Carla Kihlstedt (Oakland, CA) and Lisle Ellis (New York City) have also been invited as guests.

ARTIST INFORMATION  |  ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Sat. May 23 9:00pm
Ranferi Aguilar, Ana Nitmar & Ixim Tinamit (Guatemala & San Francisco)
Music of Guatemala
The Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason Center
$25 Reserved Seating, $20 in advance. Series Discounts Available.
Go Here for Information on discount tickets.
BOX-OFFICE: 800-838-3006
Presented by Martin Productions and SFIAF.

Ranferi Aguilar comes to the San Francisco Bay Area with his new group Los Hacedores de Lluvia (The Rain Makers). The group focuses on traditional and fusion music that reconstructs the sounds of the Mayan culture with melodies created for traditional wind and percussion instruments blended with the guitar creating new arrangements of ancient sounds. His fusion of modern and pre-Hispanic sounds proposes a subjective communion with the spiritual world. Ana Nitmar will begin the evening along with Berkeley based Ixim Tinamit (People of Corn) Marimba Ensemble. Guatemalan musician and teacher, Julio Landoni will present a wide variety of musical genres that will be played by his marimba ensemble. The performance promises to display the marimbas versatility, featuring musical genres as diverse as the waltz, bolero, cumbia, 6X8, vocal arrangements as well as the Son Guatemalteco.

ARTIST INFORMATION  |  ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Sun. May 24 7:00pm
Smita Nagdev with New Directions in Indian Classical Music (India & San Francisco)
Classical Indian Concert for Sitar, Percussion & Voice
Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason
$25 Reserved Seating, $20 in advance. Series Discounts Available.
Go Here for Information on discount tickets.
BOX-OFFICE: 800-838-3006
Presented by SFIAF, the Sangati Center and the Asian Art Museum.

Indian sitarist Smita Nagdev will be joined in a second joint concert by a Bay Area ensemble commissioned in 2009 by the San Francisco Foundation entitled New Directions in Indian Classical Music featuring the celebrated 2008 Miles From India Tour's energetic drumming talent, Anantha R. Krishnan on the South Indian mridangam barrel drum, along with the ecstatic vocal style of Sangati Center founder Gautam Tejas Ganeshan accompanied by tanpura drone lutes and Debopriyo "Bubai" Sarkar on tabla.

ARTIST INFORMATION  |  ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES