Carleton College’s African Drum Ensemble, directed by Jay Johnson, will give its fall recital in the Sayles-Hill Great Space on Tues., Nov 15 at 4 p.m. This always popular performance is free and open to the public.
The African Drum Ensemble uses both indigenous instruments and an African approach to musical training in order to learn and perform rhythms and songs from across West Africa. The ensemble is composed of Carleton students admitted on the basis of audition.
A member of the Carleton staff for the past 20 years, Johnson earned his BFA and MM in percussion with an emphasis in Ethnomusicology from the University of Minnesota. He is the 1999 recipient of a McKnight Artist Fellowship, and his original compositions have been produced by theater companies across the country, including the Twin Cities’ Guthrie Theater and Children’s Theater Company. Johnson has performed countless world premieres at major festivals and concert halls across the United States and Europe, and can be heard locally in concert or on recordings with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Opera Company, Plymouth Music Series, Dale Warland Singers, and others.
The Sayles-Hill Great Space off College Street on the Carleton College campus. The Great Space is located directly in front of the snack bar in the Sayles-Hill Campus Center. For more information or disability accommodations, contact Gao Hong Dice at (507) 222-4475. To learn more about music events at Carleton, call the music events hotline at (506) 222-4350.