Hiroya Miura conducts the Bates College Orchestra.

Conducted by Hiroya Miura of the Bates faculty, the Bates College Orchestra performs Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 and Debussy’s ”Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 10.

The concert will take place in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St., and is open to the public at no cost. However, because of limited seating, tickets are required. For tickets and more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

“At first, Brahms and Debussy seem to be at aesthetic opposites,” says Miura. “Brahms is the height of the 19th-century German ‘absolute music’ — music that is about only itself, with no external references. And Debussy was self-consciously trying to redefine French music.

“These two pieces, however, were written only 10 years apart, and in spite of the difference in their harmonic language, I am struck by their similarly organic treatment of the rhythm. The composers were both masters of form and the organization of musical motifs.”

The 27 students in the orchestra (the other 18 players are musicians from the community) will find “both pieces challenging for various reasons: rhythm, orchestral balance, expression, etc.,” Miura adds. “However, I find both pieces are absolutely worth the effort for their sublime musical quality.”

Hiroya Miura conducts the Bates College Orchestra in a 2006 rehearsal.

It’s a big weekend for classical music Nov. 12-13, as the Bates and Bowdoin Orchestra and pianist Frank Glazer present back-to-back concerts in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The orchestra, which will be conducted at Bates by Hiroya Miura and includes musicians from Bates and Bowdoin colleges, plays works by Bartok, Haydn and Mendelssohn at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12.

Glazer performs music by Berg, Beethoven, Brahms and Liszt at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, in the concert hall.

Both concerts are open to the public at no cost, but tickets are required. Please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Pianist and artist-in-residence Frank Glazer.

The orchestra program consists of Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances; Haydn’s Symphony No. 99 in E-flat major; and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 (“Italian”).

The ensemble also performs this program at 3 p.m. the following day at Bowdoin’s Studzinski Recital Hall, Kanbar Auditorium, conducted by Bowdoin’s Roland Vazquez.

“The Haydn and Mendelssohn symphonies both have connections to London,” Hiroya explains. The 99th symphony is the seventh of the so-called “London Symphonies,” which Haydn wrote during his second visit to London where he was invited by the violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon to conduct large orchestras.

Mendelssohn’s ‘Italian’ symphony was commissioned by the London, now Royal, Philharmonic Society, which Salmon founded with a few other members 20 years prior. “Although the pieces by Haydn and Mendelssohn are 40 years apart, in my mind they both share the cosmopolitan flair that Europeans, especially Londoners, were enjoying at the time.”

Hiroya adds, “Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances show yet another aspect of the European cosmopolitanism, although Bartok was much more invested in the local roots of Romanian, Hungarian and Bulgarian folk music.”

The 96-year-old Glazer, an internationally acclaimed pianist, has been an artist in residence at Bates since 1980. Here’s his program:

Berg’s Piano Sonata, Op. 1: Berg and Glazer were both students of Arnold Schoenberg, the composer who introduced the notion of atonality and the 12-tone approach to composition. Berg composed this early sonata, which is still tonal and rooted in traditional sonata form, while he was Schoenberg’s student.

Beethoven’s 15 Variations and Fugue in E Flat Major, Op. 35 (“Eroica” Variations): One of two theme-and-variations works that Beethoven considered substantial enough to assign opus numbers — works in which he elevated the form to a new level. This shares a melodic theme with three other compositions, including the “Eroica” Symphony, hence the nickname for this piece.

Brahms’ Theme and Variations from the String Sextet in B Flat Major, Op. 18: This arrangement for solo piano of the second movement of Brahms’s Op. 18 String Sextet, composed early in his career, was a gift for Clara Schumann, the widow of his friend Robert Schumann.

Brahms’ Scherzo in E Flat Minor, Op. 4: The earliest published Brahms composition, composed at age 18.

And three by Liszt:

Legende No. 1: Saint Francis Preaching to the Birds was inspired by St. Francis of Assisi’s well-known story in which he delivers a sermon to the birds.

Années de Pélerinage: Sonetta 104 del Petrarcha is one of a series of 26 piano pieces that Liszt composed over four decades, an autobiographical series inspired by the journey to maturity undertaken by Goethe’s fictional Wilhelm Meister.

The Rigoletto Paraphrase is based on a vocal quartet from the fourth act of Verdi’s opera by that name.

With the theme Musical Legacies of South and Southeast Asia, Bates College students and faculty, as well as internationally esteemed performers, present the college’s World Music Week from March 5 through March 15.

Performers include the Bates College Orchestra and Bates Gamelan Orchestra, Indian dancer Aniruddha Knight and Indonesian composer Nano S. (See the complete schedule.)

Sponsored by the Bates music department, festival events are open to the public at no cost. Except as noted, performances take place in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. For more information, call 207-786-6135.

“This year’s concept pays tribute to the profound traditional artistic roots of these regions, but at the same time acknowledges the strong innovative spirit evident in this year’s artists,” says festival organizer Gina Fatone, assistant professor of music. “The artists hold a deep reverence for their heritages, yet are driven to push the boundaries of tradition, creating something vibrant and new.”

Workshops begin the series on March 5. In a concert at 8 p.m. March 7, the Bates College Orchestra offers a program reflecting influences from around the globe, as well as works inspired by music of Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Hiroya Miura directs the orchestra.

Expert in the classical South Indian music and dance genre called “bharata natyam,” dancer Aniruddha Knight and his ensemble offer workshops on March 5 and 6, and a performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 8. On that occasion, Knight and the ensemble perform From the Heart of a Tradition, a new interpretation of this traditional form.

Knight’s dance reveals the profound musicality, mastery of technique and improvisational skill that distinguish his family’s hereditary style. But he also represents the face of young America: biracial, bicultural and, as an artist, completely contemporary. He and his ensemble were among 15 companies to receive production and touring support from the National Dance Project in 2007 and 2008, and their 2005 tour was partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Bates residency of Knight and his ensemble is made possible by a grant from the National Dance Project, a program of the New England Foundation for the Arts.

Closing World Music Week is a performance by the Bates College Gamelan Orchestra, joined by guest artists including Indonesian composer Nano S., at 8 p.m. March 15.

“Gamelan” refers to the large bronze percussion orchestras of Java and Bali, Indonesia. The Bates Gamelan Orchestra performs traditional and contemporary music of West and Central Java, as well as new music for gamelan by North American composers.

Nano S. is widely viewed as one of Indonesia’s most important and influential musicians. He has taught and toured extensively in Japan, Canada and the U.S. At Bates, he is a Mellon Learning Associate, supported by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Also performing are drummer Undang Sumarna, bamboo flute player Burhan Sukarma and dancer Ben Arcangel.

The Bates College Choir, accompanied by a 21-piece orchestra and directed by John Corrie, presents Part One of Handel’s popular oratorio Messiah in performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, in Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The ensemble will perform the popular “Hallelujah” chorus from Part Two as an encore. Concert admission is free, but tickets are required. For more information contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.

Written in just 24 days in 1741 and considered Georg Friedrich Handel’s masterpiece, Messiah draws from the Old and New Testaments to lay out the Christ story and its significance to humankind. The oratorio’s debut, in Dublin in April 1742, “seems to have been one of those rare times in history when a transcendently great work is immediately perceived at its full value,” writes music historian Jan Swafford.

“There are so many breathtaking moments for both the vocal soloists and the chorus,” says choir director Corrie, a Lewiston resident who is also artistic director of the Maine Music Society. “So many familiar melodies and joyous sounds.”

While the piece is commonly associated with Christmas, its themes pertain to both Christmas and Easter. Because the entire work lasts about three hours, the choir will perform the second and third of its three parts next spring.

“Messiah is one of those milestones that every choral singer should know,” Corrie says. It’s important for singers to learn the entire piece, so by dividing it between two programs he enables them “to learn all of it, but spread out the effort over two semesters of work.”

The choir will consist of some 60 voices, with 11 student soloists featured. The instrumentalists will be drawn from the Bates College Orchestra, the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra and the Maine Chamber Ensemble. Among the musicians is Scott Vaillancourt, music director and organist at Lewiston’s Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.

“We will be performing Handel’s orchestration,” Corrie notes. “Which means strings, oboes, bassoons, trumpets and timpani, plus organ and harpsichord.” While Mozart and others later expanded the orchestration, he says, “I think it is more important historically for the students to hear what Handel had in mind.”

In order to accompany the vocal soloists and in keeping with the practice of Handel’s time, Corrie will conduct the ensemble from the harpsichord.

The vocal soloists are: seniors Maura Beatty of Watertown, Mass.; Dana Burgard of Kinnelon, N.J.; Alexandra Conroy of Windham; Marshall Karpel of Northampton, Mass.; Joshua Olsen of Berkeley, Calif.; and Lucia Piacenza of Watertown, Conn.; juniors Stuart Ryan of London and Lisa McLellan of Glen Mills, Pa.; sophomores Tom Chapman of Gales Ferry, Conn., and Erica Rogoff of Carlisle, Mass.; and first-year student Blaise Thompson of Iowa City, Iowa.

Frank Glazer, one of Maine’s best-known pianists, joins the Bates College Orchestra for the performance of a concerto by J.S. Bach at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The concert is open to the public at no cost, but tickets are required. For tickets or more information, please call 207-786-6135 or e-mail the box office.

Hiroya Miura, a composer and member of the Bates music faculty, directs the college orchestra.

The D minor concerto is one of Bach’s most frequently performed works, and one whose themes also turn up in other Bach compositions. Also on the program is Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, known for its distinctive, dramatic four-note opening motif.

Ninety-two-year-old Frank Glazer, a pianist of international renown, has taught at Bates since 1980. A Topsham resident, Glazer brings to the concert stage a highly distinguished career that includes numerous recordings, solo recitals and performances with orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the New England Piano Quartette, of which he was a founder.

In October 2006, Glazer celebrated the 70th anniversary of his 1936 New York City debut by performing that debut program at Bates.

Miura, a native of Sendai, Japan, has been active as a composer and conductor in Canada and the United States. In addition to conducting the orchestra, he teaches composition and music theory at Bates.

In March, two Bates musical ensembles joined two community ensembles in a first-of-its-kind performance of Johannes Brahms’ masterful A German Requiem.

At 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 11, the stations of MPBN Radio will broadcast the concert on the MaineStage  program.

The landmark musical event on March 31 featured some 260 musicians performing at Lewiston’s Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. The concert was the first collaboration between the Maine Music Society and the college, both notable presences in Maine music. The link is John Corrie, of Lewiston, who has directed the Bates College Choir since 1986 and became artistic director of the music society last year.

In addition to the college choir, performing were the Bates College Orchestra, the music society’s Androscoggin Chorale and Maine Chamber Ensemble, soprano Bonnie Scarpelli and baritone Peter Allen ’66. Hiroya Miura, of the Bates faculty, conducted the Requiem, and Corrie led the combined choirs, along with choral groups from local high schools, in two Brahms motets.

In a landmark musical event, Bates College and the Maine Music Society will muster some 260 musicians for an evening of music by Johannes Brahms, including his exquisite Deutsches Requiem, at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 31, in the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, 27 Bartlett St.

The concert is the first collaboration between the Maine Music Society and the college, both notable presences in Maine music. The link is John Corrie, of Lewiston, who has directed the Bates College Choir since 1986 and became artistic director of the music society last spring.

In addition, this is the first time in recent memory that Brahms’ Requiem has been sung in the Lewiston-Auburn region with full orchestra and in the original German. (The printed program will include a full translation.)

Choral groups from the high schools of Lewiston and Auburn will also perform. Maine Gov. John Baldacci and Bates President Elaine Tuttle Hansen are scheduled to make opening remarks at the event.

For the general public, tickets cost $17.50 at the door and $15 in advance, available through the L/A Arts box office at 207-782-7228. Admission is free to students with valid ID, but tickets are required and reservations are strongly recommended. To reserve student tickets or for general information about this event, please call Bates College at 207-786-6135.

To open the program, Corrie will lead four choirs in two motets by Brahms, Schaffe in mir Gott (Op. 29, No. 2) and Warum ist das Licht gegeben dem Muhseligen? (Op. 74, No. 1). The choirs are the Bates College Choir, the Edward Little High School Chamber Choir, the Lewiston High School Concert Choir and the Androscoggin Chorale, one of the music society’s two performing ensembles.

The remainder of the program is Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (Op. 45), sung by the Bates and Androscoggin choirs and soloists Bonnie Scarpelli, soprano, and Peter Allen, baritone, both well-known to Maine audiences. (Allen is a member of the Bates class of 1966.)

They will be accompanied by a 60-piece orchestra composed of the Bates College Orchestra and the Maine Chamber Ensemble, the other performing arm of the music society. Hiroya Miura, of the Bates faculty, will conduct.

First performed in its seven-movement entirety in 1869, Brahms’ requiem is a consistently popular entry in his catalog. In its sophistication and complexity, the music marked a turning point in 19th-century composition.

“It’s a massive piece, and it needs this many players in the orchestra and singers in the choirs,” Corrie explains. It’s also highly challenging, he notes, but very gratifying, especially for the singers — as he knows first hand. In addition to directing the choirs and coordinating all the performing organizations for the concert, Corrie is singing with the tenors in the work.

“It’s just a glorious piece with such spectacular melodies,” he says.

Miura, who in 2005 first suggested that the Bates ensembles join forces for the piece, says that the work speaks to him in both personal and musical terms. From the purely musical standpoint, Miura — a composer himself — is intrigued by the overtones of Beethoven in this early Brahms work, as well as by the composer’s use of dark string colors contrasted against bright timbres from harp, winds and soprano voices.

“What’s also fascinating is that he took more than 10 years to write this piece — and despite that, it sounds so coherent,” Miura says.

In a more personal sense, the conductor is drawn by the work’s moral themes. The texts, which Brahms chose from the Old and New Testaments in the Lutheran Bible, deal with loss, consolation and a transcendent hopefulness for humanity. Miura says that for him, the performance will honor the memories of three musician friends, now deceased, whom he knew from Montreal, where he worked as a church organist for several years.

The Maine Music Society was founded in 1991 to support the artistic and educational activities of the Androscoggin Chorale, formed in Lewiston in 1972 as a community chorus, and the Maine Chamber Ensemble, founded in the late 1980s to support the chorale.

The society has attained a solid reputation for artistic excellence. Notable achievements include a 1994 performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which drew nearly 2,000 concertgoers to Lewiston and Brunswick; a 1992 production of Amahl and the Night Visitors, a professionally staged, full-scale opera; and the consistently popular annual Christmas at St. Peter’s concerts. For more than a decade, the society has presented the annual a cappella showcase called Battle of the Blends, attracting top ensembles from all over New England.

Scarpelli, of Portland, has been described by a Boston Globe critic as a “versatile and gifted singer” and “a singer of exceptional beauty of tone and security of technique.” Well-known to Maine audiences, she has sung major operatic roles, solo works with orchestra, works with chorus and orchestra, and in chamber works ranging from early to contemporary music.

Scarpelli sang the Brahms requiem previously with the Portland Symphony Orchestra. She has sung with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Portland Opera Repertory Theater, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Choral Art Society, Maine Music Society and numerous community and collegiate choirs.

She was guest soloist with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra for Richard Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder, and has frequently performed with the Surry Opera Company in Maine, France and Russia.

Allen, of Gorham, has sung in recital, operatic, musical theater and symphonic settings. He previously worked with the Maine Music Society in such music as Bizet’s L’Enfance du Christ, Handel’s Belshazzar and Messiah, Gounod’s Mors et Vita and the requiems of Faure and Durufle.

With the Portland Opera Repertory Theatre, Allen has sung solo roles in Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. He has been a guest soloist with the Choral Art Society, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Saengerfest and Masterworks Chorale of Lexington, Mass., the Oratorio Chorale and the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra. He is a recipient of the Lillian Nordica Award and was a member of the Cornish Trio, a Renaissance a cappella group, and the Bel Canto Quartet.

The Bates College Orchestra, directed by Hiroya Miura, performs a program of music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Admission to the concert is free, but tickets are required. For more information, please call 207-786-6135.

The program consists of Igor Stravinsky’s “L’histoire du soldat” (“The Soldier’s Tale”); Charles Ives’ “Unanswered Question”; Claude Debussy’s “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune” (“Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun”); and Maurice Ravel’s “Ma mère l’oye” (“Mother Goose”).

Miura says that he planned the orchestral program in part as a response to a concert taking place in 2007. The college’s orchestra and choir will collaborate on a major production of Johannes Brahms’ “German Requiem” during the winter, and so, in the interest of balance, “I thought of featuring French music for this concert,” Miura explains.

The Debussy and the Ravel, he adds, “are quite challenging, as the instruments are very exposed in their transparent orchestration.” Both were written for ballet, and so a logical next step was the Stravinsky, another chamber orchestra piece intended as ballet music.

“L’histoire” is scored for a mere seven instruments. The violinist soloist at Bates will be Robert Lehmann, a member of the University of Southern Maine music faculty, conductor of the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra and the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra, and music director of the North Shore Philharmonic in Beverly, Mass.

“In addition, I decided to include Ives’ ‘Unanswered Question’ to provide a historical perspective,” Miura says. “Debussy’s prelude is from 1894, the Ives from 1906, the Ravel from 1911 and the Stravinsky from 1918. Ives is the only American composer here, and I think his work has a strange resonance with these European works.”

“It’s quite incredible that his music sounds so ‘modern’ in comparison with these European composers.”

Stravinsky’s “L’histoire du Soldat” is based on a Russian folk tale about a soldier who makes a deal with the devil. Stravinsky’s original piece included acting, speech and dance; he later adapted it as a half-hour concert suite. It’s spare but virtuosic, and fully in the modernist style.

The “Unanswered Question,” one of Ives’ most frequently heard works, is a sort of existential query set for three distinct instrumental groupings. A phrase symbolizing the quest for life’s meaning is repeated several times by a solo trumpet, played in the Bates concert by Molly Dilworth, a first-year student from Yarmouth. A woodwind group attempts to answer, with increasing agitation and incoherence. But the real answer is carried by a string section that plays quietly throughout.

The Debussy prelude, perhaps his best-known composition, is thought by many to mark the advent of musical modernism. Inspired by a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, it’s marked by concentrated instrumental color, intricate motif writing and intense atmosphere. At Bates, the famous solo flute part will be performed by Sophia Budianto, a sophomore from Singapore.

Ravel’s “Mother Goose” started life as music for four-handed piano, written for the children of friends. When a theater director pressed him for ballet music, the composer’s response was to recast the piano suite as orchestral music accompanying the story of Sleeping Beauty. Other well-known fairy tales, each with its own music, became the dreams of the sleeping princess.

Hiroya Miura, a native of Sendai, Japan, has been active as a composer and conductor in Canada and the United States. In addition to conducting the orchestra, he teaches composition and music theory at Bates. During the winter semester, his courses will include a new entry on scoring film.

Twenty-five of the orchestra’s 45 members are Bates students. Meghan Getz, a senior from Grand Rapids, Mich., is the concertmaster.

The Bates College Orchestra performs music by Barber, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 18, in Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The concert is open to the public at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-6135.

Directed by Hiroya Miura, new at Bates this academic year, the orchestra will play the Adagio for Strings, perhaps the best-known work by Samuel Barber; Antonin Dvorak’s Serenade No. 2 in D minor (Op. 44), likewise a signature piece for the composer; and Tchaikovsky’s Orchestral Suite No. 4 (Op. 61), nicknamed “Mozartiana” because of themes the Russian composer adapted from Mozart, whom he idolized.

A native of Sendai, Japan, Miura has worked as a composer, conductor and improvisational musician in Canada and the United States. His music has been played by such acclaimed groups as Speculum Musicae, the New York New Music Ensemble and So Percussion. Two of his works will be performed in an April 25 concert at Bates by TimeTable, a New York-based percussion trio.

Miura served as assistant conductor to George Rothman and Jeffrey Milarsky with the Columbia University Orchestra. He is a founding member of the electronic improvisation unit, NoOneReceiving, whose debut album “The Release of the Wandering-Eyed Girl” (Grain of Sound, 2002) earned critical acclaim in Europe and the United States.

In addition to his conducting duties, Miura teaches composition and music theory at Bates.

Saturday brings something of a cultural feast on the Bates campus, with performances by the Bates College Orchestra, former Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and the Modern Dance Company — which also performs Sunday and Monday.

In its debut performance conducted by award-winning musician Hiroya Miura, the orchestra offers music by Bartok and Beethoven at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, in Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. Please note that contrary to some published reports, 7:30 p.m. is the correct concert time.

The concert is open to the public at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-6135.

In a sold-out show, this time in the Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building, Anastasio also takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The concert will showcase music from Shine, Anastasio’s first full-length album of new material since Phish broke up in 2004. Also on the program is the up-and-coming Bay Area band Tea Leaf Green.

For Open Borders, its annual fall concert, the Modern Dance Company’s program includes work by two internationally known visiting choreographers and by Carol Dilley, director of dance at Bates. Performances are at 5 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, and 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

Admission is $6 ($3 for seniors, children and non-Bates students). For more information, please call 207-786-6161.

Miura and the Bates orchestra will perform Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Both pieces were at least partially inspired by folk music, Miura says. “I thought it would be interesting to program pieces together that were composed almost exactly 100 years apart — 1812 and 1915,” he says.

“It’s a 19th-century composer’s take on Hungarian folk dances, and an early 20th-century Hungarian composer’s take on Romanian folk dances. It’s fun to start my concert career at Bates with all these dancy tunes.”

New to the faculty, Miura has worked as a composer, conductor and improvisational musician in Canada and the United States. In addition to his conducting duties, he teaches composition and music theory at Bates.

Miura is a native of Sendai, Japan. His works have been performed by artists including such acclaimed groups as Speculum Musicae, the New York New Music Ensemble and So Percussion. He is a founding member of the electronic improvisation unit, NoOneReceiving, whose debut album The Release of the Wandering-Eyed Girl (Grain of Sound, 2002) earned critical acclaim in Europe and the United States.

As for the dance company, the visiting choreographers are Seàn Curran, a respected presence in the New York City dance scene, and Carlos Ovares, director of the National Dance Company in San Jose, Costa Rica. The dances are Curran’s “Allegro & Allegro,” Ovares’ “Ella y sus Demonios” and Dilley’s “On Your Own Feet” and “Piano & Us.”

Dilley’s works are set to music composed by William Matthews, the Alice Swanson Esty Professor of Music at Bates. Curran’s piece will be performed to live music composed by Mozart and played by Akiko Doi, a pianist and Bates senior; Jessica Gagne-Hall, a violinist and 2004 Bates graduate; and Emily Thomas, a cellist who lives in Cumberland.

“It’s a rare and wonderful experience for both the dancers and the audience to get live music for a dance concert,” said Dilley.

Curran comes to Bates through a National College Choreographer Initiative grant to facilitate greater interaction between professional choreographers and academic institutions. He has performed and choreographed dances for venues across the United States and in Europe, and received a 2002 Choreographer’s Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Curran has taught at the American Dance Festival, Harvard Summer Dance Program, Bates Dance Festival and the Boston Conservatory.

Ovares, internationally renowned as a choreographer, actor, teacher and dancer, is director of the National Dance Company of Costa Rica, and comes to Bates as part of an exchange between the two institutions. His work has been featured in Europe, Canada and Israel, and he has performed in Spain, Austria and Germany.

Dilley, artistic director of the Bates Modern Dance Company and director of the college’s dance program, has performed, choreographed and taught internationally for nearly 20 years. Her piece “79% de un Salario” will be performed in Costa Rica by the National Dance Company a week after the Bates performances, and again during a Central American tour in spring 2006.