Nov 09, 2011 - Claremont, Calif. - Audience members will be treated to the ethereal tones of the American Gamelan at a public concert 7 p.m. Nov. 19 in the Platt Campus Center at Harvey Mudd College.

Gamelan is a traditional orchestra from the islands of Java and Bali, Indonesia. The HMC American Gamelan, formed in 2000 by William Alves, associate professor of music, features Javanese gongs and metallophones (instruments of metal bars). Yet the group’s original compositions introduce an American style to the traditional Asian genre.

“The instruments create luminous, bell-like sonorities that have accompanied dance, drama, ritual and ceremony for hundreds of years in the villages and royal courts,” Alves said. “This concert will consist of new compositions for these instruments, plus violin, keyboards, electric guitars, and other instruments in a hybridized orchestra of new sounds.”

It will also include “Breath of the Compassionate,” a dynamic video of geometric abstract art that is played in synchronization with the orchestra’s performance. The video is one of several created by Alves, who is also a visual artist.

Violinist Rachel Huang will join the orchestra as a featured guest.

Orchestra members include Alves, Associate Professor of Mathematics Darryl Yong ’96, and several current and former students. The HMC American Gamelan regularly performs at MicroFest, a Southern California microtonal music festival. It has also performed with the Pacific Symphony as part of its American Composers Festival at the Irvine Barclay Theater and the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

The concert is free and open to the public.