Carnatic Music Ensemble to Appear at Hamilton College

The Hamilton Performing Arts Seriespresents an evening of Indian music by the Carnatic Music Ensemble onFriday, April 17, 1998 at 8:00 pm in Wellin Hall, SchambachCenter for Music and the Performing Arts. The Carnatic Music Ensemble iscomprised of Geetha Ramanathan Bennett (veena and vocal artist),Frank Bennett (percussion) and Rusty Gillette (ghatam).

The musicians of the Carnatic Music Ensemble are exponents of one of the oldestmusical styles in the world, the classical music of India. They haveperformed throughout South India playing concerts under the sponsorship of theSmithsonian Institution, the American Institute of Indian studies and theIndian Government. Recent appearances in the United States includeperformances at UCLA, the California Institute of the Arts, Wesleyan Universityand Yale University.

Carnatic music is the classical music of South India. Its many features areentirely unique in conception and are executed by the artists in anextemporaneous manner. The essence and greatness of Carnatic music lies in itsdelicate quarter-tones, graces and sliding and slurring subtleties, which arenot to be found in the music of any other part of the world. Like North Indianmusic (Hindustani music), Carnatic music is also based on rgas (melodic forms)and Talas (rhythmic cycles).

Tickets for the Carnatic Music Ensemble concert at HamiltonCollege's Wellin Hall are $15.00 for adults and $5.00 forstudents. For more information, call the Hamilton College PerformingArts Ticket Office at(315) 859-4331.