Native American flutist joins electrified string quartet
On Saturday, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m., a different kind of flute player and a different kind of string quartet take the stage at MSUM’s Roland Dille Center for the Arts.
Robert Mirabal is a Native American flutist who has won two GRAMMY awards, two Native American Artist of the Year awards, and three Songwriter of the Year awards. He’s a Pueblo Indian who lives a traditional life as a horseman and farmer while at home outside Taos, N. Mex., but who also travels all over the world to perform his music. He also makes and sells his own flutes, composes, paints, tells stories, acts, and writes screenplays.
Joining this Native American Renaissance man for the MSUM performance (the third in the Cheryl Nelson Lossett Performing Arts Series) is alternative, and for this performance, electrified, string quartet ETHEL. Based in New York City, ETHEL has initiated innovative collaborations with numerous international artists including David Byrne, Bang on a Can, Todd Rundgren, and hundreds of others. The Los Angeles Times, in a reviewed ETHEL performance, wrote: “They own their music, and when they want it to roar, they roar.” With Mirabal, they’ll perform a program titled “Music of the Sun,” a collection of compositions created or arranged specifically for the instruments of the string quartet and Native American flutes and drums.
While they’re on campus Saturday, members of ETHEL will also coach high school and college string players in a two-hour masterclass starting at 1 p.m. in the Fox Recital Hall. The masterclass will feature performances by high school and college string soloists and ensembles, who will receive feedback from members of the quartet. The masterclass is free and open to the public.
To purchase tickets to the performance, go to www.mnstate.edu/perform or call the MSUM Box Office at (218) 477-2271 Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $28 for adults, $24 for seniors and $12 for students with student ID. Tickets are also available at the door if still available. Hansen Theatre is located in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts on the southwest side of the MSUM campus.