In back-to-back concerts, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College presents the classical artists G-Sharp Duo at 8 p.m. Friday, May 18, and a jazz performance by steel pan artist Shawn Thwaites at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 19.

Both concerts take place at the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St., and are open to the public at no cost.

For more information, please call 207-786-6135.

The G-Sharp Duo consists of violinist Emilie-Anne Gendron and pianist Yelena Grinberg. They will present the Maine premiere of “Moon Petals” by ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Orchestra conductor Hiroya Miura, along with works by Schubert, Beethoven and Schumann.

The evening after the duo’s ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ appearance, the college’s “Jazz at the Olin Arts Center” series presents Thwaites, director of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Steel Pan Orchestra, leading a six-piece band. The ensemble will perform jazz standards and selections from Thwaites’ debut solo CD, Soul Meets Steel, which features Thwaites playing and improvising to current R&B, rap and rock hits. The concert will include Thwaites’ composition “ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Groove,” which he wrote for the Steel Pan Orchestra.

The G-Sharp Duo’s Gendron and Grinberg founded their ensemble in 2003 while they were students in the Barnard-Columbia-Juilliard Exchange program. Over the past few years, they have been lauded by New York’s classical music community for their expressive and thoughtful performances.

Both performers are prolific. Gendron has performed internationally and won the 2002 Stulberg International String Competition. Grinberg was the winner of the third Bach Society Concerto Competition at Columbia University.

The G-Sharp Duo’s awards include first prize in the duo category of the International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition, and they have performed at such venues as Columbia’s Miller Theatre, Steinway Hall and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.

While focusing on classical music, the duo is venturing increasingly into contemporary repertoire. The pair presented the world premiere of Miura’s “Moon Petals,” which was written especially for the duo, at Columbia.

Thwaites was taught steel pan by his father, Robert, a stalwart in the field. He has performed in numerous steelbands in the United States and abroad. He and his brother Sherwin were the first two scholarship students accepted by Berklee College of Music with steel drum as their principal instrument.

Thwaites performs and arranges music for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ Steel Pan orchestra, as well as for his own Thwaites Trio and for his nonprofit organization, Pan United Youth Movement. Based in Newark, N.J., the organization offers comprehensive Caribbean steel-drum instruction to young people, with the broader aim of using performing arts as a means to building confidence and leadership skills.

The Blazing Sun Steel Pan Orchestra, a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College student ensemble directed by Shawn Thwaites, performs in concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Thwaites, new to the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ music faculty this academic year, will play steel pan as well as direct the ensemble. His brothers Sheldon and Sherwin will perform as special guests. Also featured is Greg Waters, a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ sophomore who plays saxophone. The public is invited to attend the concert at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-6135.

His first semester with the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ steel band, says Thwaites, “has been a blast.” He is an alumnus of Berklee College Of Music, in Boston, and was one of the first to graduate from there with the steel pan as principal instrument.

Thwaites is the founder and director of Pan United Youth Movement, a nonprofit organization in Newark, N.J., that offers comprehensive Caribbean steel-drum instruction to young people. The organization’s broader aim is to use the performing arts as a means to building confidence and leadership skills.

The Blazing Sun program includes music by reggae legend Bob Marley, jazzman Sonny Rollins, calypso pioneer Lord Kitchener and the Thwaites brothers.

Offering music from Caribbean, Indonesian and African traditions, this year’s World Music Weekend at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ takes place Friday through Sunday, March 4-6, in the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.

Performers include the college’s steel pan and gamelan ensembles, Auburn violinist Greg Boardman, and Jordan Messan Benissan, a drummer from Togo, West Africa. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 207-786-6135.

“The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ music department is committed to broadening our students’ exposure to live music from traditions outside of Western popular and art musics,” says Gina Fatone, visiting assistant professor of music. “That’s what this weekend is about.”

World Music Weekend opens at 8 p.m. Friday with a concert in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall. The performers are the Gamelan Mawar Mekar, a percussion-based orchestra playing the gamelan music of Java, Indonesia; the Blazing Sun Steel Pan Orchestra, performing Caribbean pan music; and Boardman, who will join the gamelan on a piece by renowned composer Lou Harrison.

Starting at 2 p.m. Saturday, two ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ seniors discuss their musical research. Gregory Rosenthal of Schenectady, N.Y., begins with a talk titled Courtship Rituals of the Yi People of China. At 3 p.m., Joseph Maurey of Germantown, Tenn., offers the lecture From Calypso to Symphony, looking at the musical traditions of Trinidad.

The location of the talks is Olin’s Room 105.

On Sunday, following a drumming workshop, and his band Sankofa perform at 7:30 p.m. in the concert hall, combining modern and traditional rhythms and songs. Steeped in the music of the Ewe people, Benissan has performed and given workshops throughout the United States to children and adults. He lives in Waterville.

His recordings include “Beautiful Music from West Africa,” nominated for Best World Music by Phoenix Magazine, and “Let Me Play My Music,” featured as an Open Mic selection on National Public Radio’s “All Songs Considered” program. Benissan’s fourth album is slated for release this summer.

Featuring performances by students from ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and Bowdoin colleges, as well as a special appearance by a Balinese gamelan orchestra from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ presents World Music Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, April 3-4, in the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.

Sponsored by the music department, the festival is open to the public at no cost. For more information, call 207-786-6135.

“We’re extending our world music celebration this year from a single concert to two days in order to highlight our students’ wide-ranging interests in musics that lie outside their home culture,” says Gina Fatone, visiting assistant professor of music.

Weekend performances include music from Zimbabwe and the Caribbean, but a prevalent theme of the weekend is gamelan, the percussion-based music of Bali and Java. Performers will include ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ own Gamelan Mawar Mekar, which plays in the Javanese tradition, and MIT’s .

Individual student projects are the basis for lecture-presentations Saturday afternoon and a concert Sunday evening. (A full schedule appears below.)

The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ gamelan ensemble, the college’s Blazing Sun Steel Orchestra and Bowdoin’s Vadzimu All-Stars, playing traditional music from Zimbabwe, appear in concert Saturday evening. Gamelan Galak Tika performs Sunday afternoon.

Here’s the full schedule:

Saturday, April 3: 1 p.m. — Paul Heckler, class of 2004, discusses Scottish Highland piping traditions, Olin Third Floor Lounge

2 p.m. — Gregory Rosenthal, class of 2005, on the “ch’in,” a kind of zither, as a vehicle for communion with nature in ancient China, Olin Room 104

3 p.m. — Alex Bushe, class of 2006, discusses rembetika, the “music of the Greek underground,” Olin Room 104

8 p.m. — Concert featuring Blazing Sun Steel Orchestra, Gamelan Mawar Mekar and the Vadzimu All-Stars, Olin Concert Hall (the student trio Gefilte Dog performs a mix of Brazilian and klezmer music during the post-concert reception)

Sunday, April 4: 3 p.m. — Concert featuring MIT’s Gamelan Galak Tika, playing music of Bali, Olin Concert Hall

8 p.m. — Concert featuring the senior thesis composition of Mike Silvers, a cantata for choir and instrumental ensemble based on Brazilian folk literature and rhythms; Olin Concert Hall.

“Gamelan” means “to hammer,” but the term refers to the large percussion orchestras of Java and Bali. The primary instruments are gongs, metallophones and hand drums, embellished with cymbals, vocals, bamboo flutes and spiked fiddles.

Audiences familiar with Javanese gamelan will notice striking differences in sound and style that distinguish Balinese music from that of Java, its island neighbor to the west. The Balinese is generally louder, faster and expresses a more frenetic energy. “There is an overall vibrancy that is truly Balinese,” Fatone explains.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ 4-year-old Gamelan Mawar Mekar (“blossom of inspiration”) is directed by Fatone and Rose Pruiksma, visiting assistant professor of music. ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is unique in Maine and distinguished nationally for its resources in Indonesian performing arts — in addition to the gamelan, the college has the use of an extensive collection of shadow puppets.

Its name meaning “intense togetherness” in classical Javanese, the 30-member Gamelan Galak Tika comprises MIT students, staff and community. Its founder and director is Evan Ziporyn, associate professor of music at MIT.

Sponsored by the music department, the festival is open to the public at no cost. For more information, call 207-786-6135.

“We’re extending our world music celebration this year from a single concert to two days in order to highlight our students’ wide-ranging interests in musics that lie outside their home culture,” says Gina Fatone, visiting assistant professor of music.

Weekend performances include music from Zimbabwe and the Caribbean, but a prevalent theme of the weekend is gamelan, the percussion-based music of Bali and Java. Performers will include ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ own Gamelan Mawar Mekar, which plays in the Javanese tradition, and MIT’s Gamelan Galak Tika.

Individual student projects are the basis for lecture-presentations Saturday afternoon and a concert Sunday evening. (A full schedule appears below.)

The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ gamelan ensemble, the college’s Blazing Sun Steel Orchestra and Bowdoin’s Vadzimu All-Stars, playing traditional music from Zimbabwe, appear in concert Saturday evening. Gamelan Galak Tika performs Sunday afternoon.

Here’s the full schedule:

Saturday, April 3:

1 p.m. — Paul Heckler, class of 2004, discusses Scottish Highland piping traditions, Olin Third Floor Lounge

2 p.m. — Gregory Rosenthal, class of 2005, on the “ch’in,” a kind of zither, as a vehicle for communion with nature in ancient China, Olin Room 1043 p.m. — Alex Bushe, class of 2006, discusses rembetika, the “music of the Greek underground,” Olin Room 104

8 p.m. — Concert featuring Blazing Sun Steel Orchestra, Gamelan Mawar Mekar and the Vadzimu All-Stars, Olin Concert Hall (the student trio Gefilte Dog performs a mix of Brazilian and klezmer music during the post-concert reception)

Sunday, April 4:

3 p.m. — Concert featuring MIT’s Gamelan Galak Tika, playing music of Bali, Olin Concert Hall

8 p.m. — Concert featuring the senior thesis composition of Mike Silvers, a cantata for choir and instrumental ensemble based on Brazilian folk literature and rhythms; Olin Concert Hall.   “Gamelan” means “to hammer,” but the term refers to the large percussion orchestras of Java and Bali. The primary instruments are gongs, metallophones and hand drums, embellished with cymbals, vocals, bamboo flutes and spiked fiddles.

Audiences familiar with Javanese gamelan will notice striking differences in sound and style that distinguish Balinese music from that of Java, its island neighbor to the west. The Balinese is generally louder, faster and expresses a more frenetic energy. “There is an overall vibrancy that is truly Balinese,” Fatone explains .

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ 4-year-old Gamelan Mawar Mekar (“blossom of inspiration”) is directed by Fatone and Rose Pruiksma, visiting assistant professor of music. ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is unique in Maine and distinguished nationally for its resources in Indonesian performing arts — in addition to the gamelan, the college has the use of an extensive collection of shadow puppets.

Its name meaning “intense togetherness” in classical Javanese, the 30-member Gamelan Galak Tika comprises MIT students, staff and community. Its founder and director is Evan Ziporyn, associate professor of music at MIT. Learn more at the gamelan’s Web site: .