The Momenta Quartet joins the �ֲ���ý Gamelan Ensemble in performance on Nov. 14. (John Gurrin)

A string ensemble known for its dedication to music by contemporary composers and from cultures underrepresented in mainstream repertory, the Momenta Quartet joins the �ֲ���ý College Gamelan Ensemble in concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Admission is $15 plus a convenience fee of $3 per ticket, available at . A limited number of free tickets for students and seniors 65-plus are available at . For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

The program consists of “NONAME,” a composition from 2012 by Jesse Jones, and “Threnody for Carlos Chavez,” a 1979 work by the late Lou Harrison.

Praised by The New York Times for its “focused, fluid performance,” the Momenta Quartet has premiered more than 50 works in the past eight years and has collaborated with more than 80 composers.

The �ֲ���ý Gamelan Orchestra in March 2011. Photograph by Simone Schriger ’14.

Gamelan refers to a family of musical instruments indigenous to Bali and Java, in Indonesia. The instruments consist mostly of tuned bronze percussion, and tend to be created in sets. (�ֲ���ý has two different sets.)

Despite its long history, gamelan remains a living musical force, says Gina Fatone, associate professor of music and director of the �ֲ���ý Gamelan Ensemble. “Music for gamelan has become a global phenomenon — not only for listeners, but for composers as well.

“While �ֲ���ý gamelan students study traditional Indonesian styles, I think it’s important that our curriculum builds their awareness of the many ways in which contemporary composers, both Indonesian and Western, make creative use of gamelan.”

The two pieces on the Nov. 14 program came into being in different ways, each with its own pedagogical value, says Fatone.

Jones’ piece was written in Western notation with a percussion part not specified for gamelan instruments — meaning that the �ֲ���ý performers had to translate their parts from Western staff notation into the gamelan notation they’re accustomed to.

In addition, Jones’ score calls for only a few instruments. That, says Fatone, necessitated dividing the parts up among multiple players, sometimes on the same instrument, so that everyone in the ensemble could take part in the performance.

“Working out exactly who would play what when has been a bit of a challenge,” she says.  “And the piece is composed in a rather experimental idiom that involves technical challenges regardless of the medium. But the students have done a beautiful job with this.”

Harrison’s “Threnody,” in contrast, was written for solo viola and gamelan. The score is in conventional gamelan notation. But the featured soloist, Momenta violist Stephanie Griffin, will guide the tempo and subtle dynamic changes. That’s a departure from standard gamelan repertoire, where there is typically little dynamic change within large sections of a piece.

The Momenta Quartet’s other members are violinists Emilie-Anne Gendron and Adda Kridler and cellist Michael Haas. Based in New York City, the quartet focuses on the work of emerging modern composers, and includes music from many different cultures and genres, including jazz and avant-garde improvisation.

Momenta’s concerts combine the works of living composers with selected great music from the past, creating what The Washington Post calls an “utterly beautiful sonic skyscape.”

In residence at Temple University in Philadelphia, the quartet has performed and lectured at a number of colleges and universities, including Cornell, Columbia, Swarthmore and Haverford.

Momenta has visited �ֲ���ý several times, most recently last May. “We are incredibly lucky to be performing with an ensemble of such high caliber and one known for a repertoire representing both Indonesian and Western composers,” says Fatone. “In fact, members of Momenta made us aware of this dimension of their work, and we decided to play together this fall.

“We hope this will lead to more collaborations with the quartet.”

The Momenta Quartet. From left: Adda Kridler, Michael Haas, Emilie-Anne Gendron and Stephanie Griffin. (John Gurrin)

Known for its dedication to contemporary music across stylistic boundaries, the Momenta Quartet returns to �ֲ���ý for a concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 9, at the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Admission is $12, available at . A limited number of free tickets are available for students and seniors 65 and older at . For more information about this Olin Arts Alive Quartet Series event, please contact 207-786-6163 or olinarts@bates.edu.

The quartet also performs the following night as part of a concert of music composed by �ֲ���ý students for their senior thesis projects. Read about that event.

Based in New York City, the Momenta Quartet aims to share the best of contemporary music with its audiences. It focuses on the work of emerging and underrepresented modern composers, and includes music from many different cultures and genres, including jazz and avant-garde improvisation.

Momenta’s unique concert experience combines the works of living composers with selected great music from the past, creating what The Washington Post calls an “utterly beautiful sonic skyscape.”

Praised by The New York Times for its “focused, fluid performance,” the Momenta Quartet has premiered more than 50 works in the past eight years and has collaborated with more than 80 composers.

The quartet consists of violinists Emilie-Anne Gendron and Adda Kridler, violist Stephanie Griffin and cellist Michael Haas. The quartet has performed in Indonesia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The New York Times notes that “word of the Momenta Quartet’s diligence, curiosity and excellence is definitely out.”

Currently in its ninth year in residence at Temple University in Philadelphia, the quartet has performed and lectured at a number of colleges and universities, including Cornell, Columbia, Swarthmore and Haverford. It has received grants from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, Meet the Composer, the Aaron Copland Fund, the Brooklyn Arts Council and the New York State Council on the Arts.

The Momenta Quartet.

Presented by the Olin Arts Alive  music series and the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art, the renowned Momenta Quartet performs new music by two �ֲ���ý composers at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Admission is $12 and tickets are available at . Free tickets are available to the first 100 seniors and students; please reserve by calling 207-786-6163. For more information, please call 207-786-6135.

The Momenta program includes the premieres of music by �ֲ���ý composers Hiroya Miura and William Matthews, as well as music by Debussy, Haydn and Jason Kao Hwang.

The quartet will also offer a critique of music by �ֲ���ý student composers at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, in Olin Concert Hall. This workshop is free and open to the public.

Praised by The New York Times for its “focused, fluid performance” and by contemporary music website Sequenza 21 for its “fire, fantasy and absolute musical commitment,” the Momenta Quartet has premiered more than 50 works in the past seven years and has collaborated with more than 80 composers.

Based in New York City, the quartet performs nationally and internationally. The quartet’s repertoire ranges widely from the classics to contemporary. The members of Momenta are violinists Emilie-Anne Gendron and Adda Kridler, violist Stephanie Griffin and cellist Michael Haas.

Inspired by the current �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art astrophotography exhibition Starstruck, Miura’s “Singularity” adapts cosmic radiation readings to serve as the harmonic basis for his piece.

The imagery in “Mare Tranquillitas,” a musical and video piece composed by Matthews, Alice Swanson Esty Professor of Music at �ֲ���ý, incorporates astrophotographs from Starstruck and photographs of Momenta’s instruments.

The Momenta Quartet.

Three concerts at �ֲ���ý feature choral music for the holiday season, and compositions by �ֲ���ý faculty played by a visiting string quartet.

The �ֲ���ý College Choir performs a holiday program including Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

Presented by the Olin Arts Alive music series and the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art, the renowned Momenta Quartet performs new music by two �ֲ���ý composers at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4.

Both concerts take place in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Admission to the choir concerts is free, but tickets are required. Admission to the Momenta Quartet event is $12 and tickets are available at . Free tickets are available to the first 100 seniors and students; please reserve by calling 207-786-6163. For more information, please call 207-786-6135.

�ֲ���ý College Choir

Directed by John Corrie, the choir presents a program featuring Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols” and Eric Whitacre’s “Five Hebrew Love Songs.”

John Corrie conducts the �ֲ���ý College Choir.

An internationally esteemed 20th-century English composer, Britten composed operas, orchestral music, vocal and choral works, and chamber music. Scored for three-part chorus, solo voices and harp, “Ceremony of Carols” marked Britten’s return from America to wartime England in 1942.

Each of Whitacre’s five songs captures a moment that he and his wife, soprano Hila Plitmann, shared, and which she rendered as poems that he set to music.

Momenta Quartet

The Momenta program includes the premiere of �ֲ���ý composers Miura and William Matthews, as well as music by Debussy, Kee Yong Chong and Jason Kao Hwang.

Praised by The New York Times for its “focused, fluid performance” and by contemporary music website Sequenza 21 for its “fire, fantasy and absolute musical commitment,” the Momenta Quartet has premiered more than 50 works in the past seven years and has collaborated with more than 80 composers.

Based in New York City, the quartet performs nationally and internationally. The quartet’s repertoire ranges widely from the classics to contemporary. The members of Momenta are violinists Emilie-Anne Gendron and Adda Kridler, violist Stephanie Griffin and cellist Michael Haas.

Inspired by the current �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art astrophotography exhibition Starstruck, Miura’s “Singularity” adapts cosmic radiation readings to serve as the harmonic basis for his piece.

The imagery in “Mare Tranquillitas,” a musical and video piece composed by William Matthews, Alice Swanson Esty Professor of Music at �ֲ���ý, incorporates astrophotographs from “Starstruck” and photographs of Momenta’s instruments.

The Momenta Quartet will also offer a critique of music by �ֲ���ý student composers at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, in Olin Concert Hall. This workshop is free and open to the public.

Red Baraat

Opening with Ethiopian-born Finnish singer-songwriter Mirel Wagner and concluding with the college’s own Jazz Band, the autumn 2012 concert season at �ֲ���ý College represents the best of music from �ֲ���ý and the world.

The season includes the debut of the Olin Arts Alive concert series featuring internationally renowned and emerging performers.

Classical music highlights include visits by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the contemporary music ensemble Momenta Quartet, performing a piece by a �ֲ���ý composer. In addition, pianist Frank Glazer, an artist in residence at the college since 1980, will offer a season-long series comprising music from his most cherished �ֲ���ý programs.

In a joint presentation with L/A Arts — one of several undertaken by �ֲ���ý this academic year — rhythm and blues singer Francine Reed returns to Olin a year after her smash appearance here. Other familiar faces include the �ֲ���ý College Orchestra and College Choir. And new to the college is Red Baraat, a most exciting ensemble combining the sounds of South Asia and the New World.

With exceptions as noted, most concerts are open to the public free of charge and take place in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. To buy tickets, please visit . For more information or to arrange tickets for the free concerts, please contact olinarts@bates.edu or 207-786-6135.

Here’s the season schedule:

Mirel Wagner (7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12): Born in Ethiopia, raised in Finland, this folk and blues singer is known for her minimalist style and emotive depth. Note: This Olin Arts Alive series concert takes place at Keigwin Amphitheater at Lake Andrews, next to the Olin Arts Center. Rain site: Olin Concert Hall. Learn more.

Pianist Frank Glazer in 2006. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College.

Frank Glazer Retrospective, Program I (7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14): The renowned pianist begins a season of music from his most cherished �ֲ���ý programs. Tonight: Handel, Mozart, Debussy, Chopin and Beethoven (Pathétique). Admission: $10 per concert or all eight programs at $65 per seat, at . Proceeds benefit the Frank & Ruth Glazer Scholarship Fund. A limited number of free tickets are available for seniors and students; contact olinarts@bates.eduor 207-786-6163.

�ֲ���ýDowntown (5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28): The college’s informal series of free downtown concerts resumes with an artist TBA. Note: The venue is 22 Park St., Lewiston.

An Evening of Chamber Music (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29): Four friends — �ֲ���ý pianist Jim Parakilas, violinist Mary Hunter, cellist Steve Witkin and violist Heather Cook — perform Mozart, Fauré and Dvořák, including the beloved “Dumky” piano trio. Free, but tickets required; contact olinarts@bates.edu.

Red Baraat (7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30): Driven by bandleader Sunny Jain’s dhol, a North Indian drum, this uproarious Brooklyn band blends Brit-Indi Bhangra with funky New World brass. Admission $15/ $10, available at . Free tickets are available for the first 100 seniors or students. To reserve, please email olinarts@bates.edu. .

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6): One of America’s most compelling pianists, Jeremy Denk is among the six CMS players in an Olin Arts Alive performance. Featured is music by Bruch, Brahms and Dohnányi. Admission $15/ $10, available at . Free tickets are available for the first 100 seniors or students. To reserve, please email olinarts@bates.edu. .

Francine Reed

Frank Glazer Retrospective, Program II (7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12): See Program I, above, for artist and admission details. Tonight: Schoenberg’s Six Short Pieces, along with music by Schubert, Brahms and Chopin.

Francine Reed (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13): Olin Arts Alive and L/A Arts present an evening with this blues, gospel and jazz singer. A hit at Olin a year ago, the openhearted, full-throated Reed is the widely recognized voice in Lyle Lovett’s Large Band, but has a powerhouse career in her own right. Admission: $15 / $10, increasing to $20 /$10 on the day of the show. Available at . Learn more.

Alexandre Tharaud (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21). Olin Arts Alive presents the up-and-coming French pianist. “Tharaud is dazzlingly nimble-fingered and often admirably sensitive, without romanticizing,” wrote the BBC. A program of Scarlatti, Ravel, Chopin and Liszt. Admission $12, available at ; free tickets are available for the first 100 seniors and students. Email olinarts@bates.edu to reserve. .

Rollin’ to Olin(12:30 p.m. on three Thursdays: Nov. 1, 8 and 15). The public is invited to this free arts-literacy program for local schoolchildren. A �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art presentation takes place at 12:30 p.m., followed by a mini-concert from 1 to 1:30.

Europa Galante

Europa Galante (7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2): Olin Arts Alive presents a Baroque music ensemble from Italy, founded and still directed by violinist Fabio Biondi. The program “Apotheosis and Folia” includes music by Vivaldi, Couperin, Mascitti, Corelli and C.P.E. Bach. Admission $12, available at . Free tickets are available to the first 100 seniors and students; reserve by emailing olinarts@bates.edu. .

Frank Glazer Retrospective, Program III (7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9): See Program I, above, for artist and admission information. Tonight: Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales, along with music by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin.

�ֲ���ý College Orchestra (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10): Hiroya Miura directs the ensemble in a program including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. Free, but tickets required.

�ֲ���ý College Choir (8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 30-Dec. 1): John Corrie directs the choir in a program TBA. Free, but tickets required.

Frank Glazer Retrospective, Program IV (3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2): See Program I, above, for artist and admission information. Tonight: music by Franck, Weber, Gershwin, Barber, Copland and Brahms.

Momenta Quartet

Momenta Quartet (7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 4): Olin Arts Alive and the �ֲ���ý College Museum of Art present this quartet whose repertoire ranges widely from the classics to contemporary — such as tonight’s premiere by �ֲ���ý composer Hiroya Miura, commissioned for the museum’s exhibition Starstruck. Also on the program: music by Debussy, Kee Yong Chong and Jason Kao Hwang. Admission $12, available at . Free tickets are available to the first 100 seniors and students; reserve by emailing olinarts@bates.edu. .

�ֲ���ý College Jazz Band (7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5) Tom Snow leads the band in arrangements for large and small ensembles, and genres from big band to bossa nova to funk. Free, but tickets required.