Apr 10, 2012 - Claremont, Calif. -

The Harvey Mudd College American Gamelan will perform May 6 at Pomona College as part of the 2012 Festival of Microtonal Music (MicroFest).

The free, public concert, which begins at 8 p.m. in Lyman Hall, Thatcher Music Building, will feature pianists Aron Kallay and Vicki Ray performing German composer Enno Poppe's "Rad" on microtonal keyboards. The program will also feature HMC music professor Bill Alves' "Concerto for Violin and American Gamelan" with violinist Susan Jensen.

The concert will include some rarely heard works by the famous American composer Lou Harrison, including his "A Cornish Lancaran" with saxophonist Ken Foerch and the HMC American Gamelan.

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

Orchestra members include Alves and several current and former students. The group performs annually at MicroFest and 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.

Microtonal music explores the sound that lies “between the keys” of the standard tuning for piano and most other commonly used instruments. The music style uses intervals less than an equally spaced semitone and includes any tuning that differs from the Western 12-tone equal temperament. Each unique division of the octave or pseudo-octave creates new interval relationships and thereby new sound possibilities.

A concert series devoted to non-standard tunings, the 2012 MicroFest features eight concerts held in venues throughout Southern California.

Visit the concert webpage.