Baylor Lyceum Series Presents Unique Instruments and Music of India

by Lillyan Baker, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805
Stephen Slawek, professor of music at the University of Texas at Austin, will perform "Improvisations in the Classical Ragas and Talas of India," as part of Baylor University's Lyceum Series at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 6, in Roxy Grove Hall on the Baylor campus.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature Slawek playing the Hindustani stringed instrument, the sitar. Slawek will be accompanied by Sri Gourisankar, who will play the tabla, an Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music.

Slawek has utilized his master of music degree featuring the sitar with performances all over the world, including India, Europe and the United States.

Since joining the faculty at the University of Texas, Slawek has taught the music of North India to hundreds of students. He enjoys traveling for graduate seminars in ethnomusicology, the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts.

Gourisankar is a graduate of Calcutta University and is an artist with All India Radio and Television. Known for his musical virtuosity and intricate rhythms, Gourisankar has traveled around the world for the past 20 years as a soloist and accompanist for Indian music.
The Lyceum Series was founded in 1976 and has been funded by the Meadows Foundation of Dallas since 1980.
For more information about the Lyceum Concert Series, call the Baylor School of Music at (254) 710-3991.