Three Kalamazoo College music ensembles are concluding their 2023–24 academic years with spring concerts in the coming days, starting tonight, May 29.

International Percussion

Tonight’s International Percussion performance, beginning at 7, will take place outside, in front of the Light Fine Arts building. There will be chairs and grass to sit on. Bring a blanket if you would like to sit on the lawn.

Carolyn Koebel is the director of both groups within International Percussion, the West African ensemble and the Japanese Taiko ensemble, which are a combination of K students and community members who learn drumming techniques and then play together as a group.

The free concert will feature marimba player Julia Holt ’24, performing two selections written by composer Keiko Abe, who collaborated with Yamaha Corp. to develop the modern five-octave concert marimba. The Taiko ensemble will present two selections dealing with the giving of gifts to the Taiko community from special sources with music shared by Sensei Esther Vandecar.

The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will wrap up its 2023–2024 season with a semi-staged opera performance of Carmen this weekend in collaboration with the West Michigan Opera Project. 

Under the direction of Andrew Koehler, the Kalamazoo Philharmonia will perform Carmen on Friday in Grand Rapids and on Sunday in Kalamazoo. 

Carmen is one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the classical canon. Composer Georges Bizet died at just 36 years of age, only a few months after the premiere of his magnus opus, while early audiences in Paris were still scandalized by the way the topic and music broke conventions. 

According to the Philharmonia’s season brochure, “The verité grittiness of the story, full of soldiers, thieves, cigarette factory laborers; the disastrous (if compulsively watchable) choices of the male protagonist, Don José; the seductive qualities of Carmen, precisely because of her complete disregard for societal niceties; and, of course, the picaresque, effortlessly melodic music of Bizet: all of these combine to create one of the most arresting dramas ever created, one whose influence was felt in almost every opera that followed.” 

A new Kalamazoo College student organization will participate in the winter term’s International Percussion concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts. 

The Steel Drum Club—dedicated to classic rock, modern pop and calypso music—will play mainstream songs such as Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana and Story of My Life by One Direction. 

Separately, the music department’s Taiko Drums group, led by International Percussion Ensemble Director Carolyn Koebel, also will perform. The Taiko ensemble unites individuals with varied musical backgrounds from K, nearby institutions and the general community. The ensemble’s performances regularly include solos, group drumming and collaborations with other complementary instruments. 

The concert is free and open to the public. 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.  

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.  

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.   

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.  

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. 

For more information, contact the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu. 

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.