Renewing America's Promise—Inauguration 2009
at the Freer and Sackler Galleries
Celebrate Asia in America! Click here for a full list of special events January 18–20.

		Kim Duk Soo & SamulNori Tuesday, January 13, 7:30 p.m., Meyer Auditorium This internationally acclaimed percussion quartet from Korea performs the infectious rhythms of the country's traditional farmers' bands on gongs and double-headed drums. The New York Times says a concert by SamulNori's "virtuoso percussionists . . . could lead to total astonishment." Presented in conjunction with Korean American Day, in cooperation with the Asian Cultural History Program of the National Museum of Natural History, with support from the Korean Heritage Foundation. Free tickets required.

		Iraqi Jazz Fusions: Amir ElSaffar's Two Rivers Saturday, February 7, 2009, 7:30 p.m., Meyer Auditorium Pre-concert gallery tour, Arts of the Islamic World. 6:45 pm Iraqi American jazz artist Amir ElSaffar leads this cross-cultural quintet in a performance of Two Rivers, an original work inspired by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the composer's Iraqi and American heritage, and the common ground between American jazz and Iraqi classical music. ElSaffar sets the modes of Arab music to innovative grooves, free ensemble playing, and multilayered sound textures, resulting in a work that the BBC praised as "harrowing to absorb, full of as much beauty as pain." He performs on trumpet and santur with Rudresh Mahanthappa, saxophone; Nasheet Waits, drums; Carlo DeRosa, bass; and Zaafir Tawil, oud, violin, and dumbek. Cosponsored with the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University Free tickets required.

Musicians from Marlboro II Thursday, February 19, 2009, 7:30 p.m., Meyer Auditorium Pre-concert gallery tour, Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer's Aesthetic Vision.6:45 pm Young musicians from around the world who have participated in the Marlboro Music Festival join longtime Marlboro cellist Peter Stumpf in Haydn's Quartet, op. 64, no. 6; Brahms's Clarinet Quintet, op. 115; and Kodaly's Duo for Violin and Cello. Filling out the ensemble are Augustin Hadelich and Karina Canellakis, violin; Sebastian Krunnies, cello; and Romie de Guise-Langolois, clarinet. Free tickets required.

		Hafiz in the West: Martin Bruns, baritone; Jan Philip Schulze, Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 7:30 p.m., Meyer Auditorium Pre-concert gallery tour, Arts of the Islamic World. 6:45 pm In 1812 the translation into German of poems by the fourteenth-century Persian mystic Hafiz sparked a wave of interest among poets and composers throughout the West, including Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms. Martin Bruns, one of Europe's most versatile vocalists, lends his operatic baritone to songs inspired by Hafiz's haunting intimate poetry. A winner of the New York State Metropolitan Opera Auditions, Bruns earned leading roles with the Wiesbaden, Dusseldorf, and Munich opera houses and has collaborated with conductors Eric Ericson, Heinz Holliger, and Gerard Schwarz. This recital of works by Schubert, Brahms, Hugo Wolf, Adolf Jensen, and Viktor Ullmann provides unique insights into the influence of Hafiz's Persian poetry on European composers centuries later. Free tickets required.

		Prism Saxophone Quartet with the Music From China ensemble Sunday, March 1, 2009, 2:00 pm, Meyer Auditorium This Washington premiere of fascinating new works blends soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones with Chinese strings and percussion. Music by Chen Yi and Grammy Award-winning composer Zhou Long is featured. Free tickets required.