Hope College will bring pitched-drum artist Rohan Krishnamurthy and violinist Ayano Ninomiya to perform South Indian percussion with Western classical music on Wednesday, March 26, at 8 p.m. in Wichers Auditorium of Nykerk Hall of Music.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Acclaimed an "international performer and promoter" of the South Indian pitched drum, the mridangam, by "USA Today," Krishnamurthy is today considered a young musical ambassador in the Indian music scene. Having initially received mridangam training with Damodaran Srinivasan over a telephone setup in the U.S. and continuing advanced training from the mridangam maestro Guruvayur Dorai in India, Krishnamurthy has performed in hundreds of concerts in North America and India since the age of nine with leading Indian musicians.
Most recently, he presented a weeklong performance of "Echoes," a novel concerto for mridangam and string orchestra, with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. "Echoes" has since been programmed by several professional orchestras in the U.S.
Violinist Ninomiya's 2004 New York debut recital at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall was described as "deeply communicative and engrossing" by "The New York Times" (Jeremy Eichler). Second-prize winner of the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition and winner of 2003 Astral Artistic Services' National Auditions, Ninomiya is also the recent winner of the Washington Award and the Lili Boulanger Memorial Award, and prize winner of the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition.
Ninomiya's current season includes an exciting opportunity to record two pieces by Paul Moravec for the Bridgehampton Festival, as well as east and west coast tours with the Formosa String Quartet, concerts in Singapore with the Momenta String Quartet, and performances with the Ensemble for the Romantic Century.
Nykerk Hall of Music is located in the central Hope campus at the former 177 E. 12th St. between College and Columbia avenues.