McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga will host a summer concert on SUNDAY, AUGUST 23 from 1:30-3:30 pm. Two 45 minute sets of Gamelan music will feature an ensemble that is characterized by a unique combination of bronze bar instruments, drums, bamboo flutes, and gongs. The performance by Bali & Beyond, a company of Los Angeles-based performing artists inspired by the cultures of Indonesia, will include ritual music and processional, classical and contemporary pieces.

Maria Bodmann and Cliff DeArment, the core players of the six member Bali & Beyond group, began playing Gamelan at California Institute of the Arts and continued their studies on the island of Bali where they lived for over two years. “I fell in love with Balinese Gamelan music and, after returning to the U.S., formed Bali & Beyond in order to perform and share knowledge about Gamelan music with as many people as possible. I am especially delighted and honored to play at McGroarty Arts Center, one of my favorite venues in Los Angeles,” Maria said.

Bali & Beyond’s concerts are spiced with cultural insight and celebrate the gift of diversity by inspiring audiences to look beyond their own surroundings for new forms of expression.  “It is rare and precious to hear Gamelan music in California.  The sounds are so different from the western music that we typically hear, that your first Gamelan concert is a mystical, transportive experience. ” says Executive Director of McGroarty Arts Center, Claire Knowlton.  “McGroarty Arts Center has focused on incorporating the Center’s natural surroundings into our visual and performing arts programs.  The Summer Concert of Gamelan music is a perfect fit.”

The free concert will be located outdoors on the McGroarty Arts Center’s upper parking lot amidst rolling hills and shady oak trees, just adjacent to the historic 1923 home of John Steven McGroarty. Feel free to bring your own picnic and a blanket to sit on.

For those history and architecture buffs, the concert provides a great opportunity to explore the beauty of the Center itself.  McGroarty Arts Center is a little-known gem located in the Sunland-Tujunga community, just off of the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Plainview Avenue.  Free tours of the home will be available.

In addition to festivals, concerts and exhibits, the Center offers affordable art instruction for children and adults in music and performing arts, visual arts, including ceramics, and creative writing.  The Center is run by a 501(c)3 nonprofit in partnership with the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs.  This performance is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Fifth District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Programs at McGroarty Arts Center are funded in part by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the California Community Foundation, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and the Annenberg Foundation. The concert is open to the public.

For further information contact McGroarty Arts Center at (818) 352-5285 or visit www.mcgroartyartscenter.org.