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Grammy-Winning Roomful of Teeth to Perform at Swarthmore College

roomful of teeth

Roomful of Teeth, a GRAMMY-winning vocal project dedicated to mining the expressive potential of the human voice, will perform at Swarthmore College on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lang Music Building, Concert Hall. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations will be available starting February 1.  More information on making a reservation can be found on the event calendar.

Through study with masters from singing traditions the world over, the eight-voice ensemble continually expands its vocabulary of singing techniques and, through an ongoing commissioning process, forges a new repertoire without borders.

Founded in 2009 by Brad Wells, the group gathers annually at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Mass., where they’ve studied Tuvan throat singing, yodeling, belting, Inuit throat singing, Korean P’ansori, Georgian singing, Sardinian cantu a tenore, Hindustani music, Persian classical singing, and death metal singing with some of the world’s top performers and teachers. Commissioned composers include Rinde Eckert, Judd Greenstein, Caleb Burhans, Merrill Garbus (of tUnE-yArDs), William Brittelle, Fred Hersch, Wally Gunn, Michael Harrison, Sam Amidon, Ambrose Akinmusire, Toby Twining, and Ted Hearne, among many others.

Projects in 2016-2017 include The Colorado, a music-driven documentary film that explores water, land, and survival in the Colorado River Basin (featuring former Kronos Quartet cellist Jeffrey Zeigler and Wilco’s Glenn Kotche); collaborations with A Far Cry and Nick Zammuto of The Books; appearances at new music festivals in the U.S., Canada, and Sweden; and partnerships with nearly two dozen higher education institutions across the country.

Sponsored by the Department of Music and Dance.

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