The spring World Music Showcase Concert in the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts will feature the WVU African Music and Dance Ensemble, the WVU Steel Bands and the WVU Balinese Gamelan.

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 12, in the Lyell B. Clay Theatre of the Creative Arts Center.

Directed by Michael Vercelli and graduate assistant Rafael Langoni Smith, the concert is a production of the WVU World Music Performance Center.

“This semester’s concert will include traditional and contemporary works, as well as feature many student arrangements,” said Dr. Vercelli, who directs the center.

“Highlighting the concert will be a new work for the African Ensemble based on traditional Dagomba Praise Songs from Ghana,” he said.

Choreographed by master Dagomba dancer, Sulley Imoro, “Praise Dances” skillfully adapts his culture to the contemporary stage.

“The WVU Balinese Gamelan Ensemble will feature the premiere of the second collaboration between composer Rafael Langoni Smith and poet Xin Tian Koh,” Vercelli said.

“In addition, special guest vocalist Dallas Wright, a voice student in the School of Music, will join the WVU Steel Band to perform a Rafael Langoni Smith arrangement.”

Rafael Langoni Smith is an exchange student from Brazil who is graduating with a master’s degree in music composition from the WVU School of Music this spring. He came to the College of Creative Arts as part of the “Music Alive!” program with Brazil and previously studied at UCLA.

Vercelli holds a doctorate of musical arts in ethnomusicology from the University of Arizona. He has studied the traditional music of other countries and done fieldwork in Bali, Cuba, Brazil and primarily in Ghana.

All tickets are $10. For tickets and information, contact the Mountainlair and CAC Box Office at (304) 293-SHOW.

-WVU-

cl/04/10/13

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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