Ming Mei Residency Concert: Amir ElSaffar and Susie Ibarra

Note: Attendees on the waitlist may choose queue in person for standby tickets; any empty seats will be released to non-ticketholders five minutes before the start of the concert.

Two of the most inventive figures in contemporary music share a single evening in Paine Hall. Trumpeter, vocalist and composer Amir ElSaffar brings his New Quartet, with Nasheet Waits on drums, Tania Giannouli on microtonally tuned piano and Ole Mathisen on tenor saxophone. ElSaffar's music draws on Iraqi maqam, and for this set the piano is retuned to his own microtonal scheme which pulls seven of the twelve pitches away from equal temperament, one by a full quarter-tone.

Percussionist and composer Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands (2024) takes inspiration from the musical traditions of Luzon's sky islands and represents the Montane Forest ecosystem through a performative sonic installation, featuring interlocking rhythms and melodies found in the bamboo, gong and flute music of the Kalinga and Cordilleras Region. Ibarra has described the work as a musical call to action, highlighting Luzon's rainforests — an endangered region with 31 endemic species, including the Philippine eagle. Sky Islands was a 2024 Fromm Music Foundation commission and won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
 

Curated and hosted by Claire Chase. Presented by the Department of Music and Arts Thursdays. Free parking is available at the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street.