A World Music Journey with Suzanne Teng & Gilbert Levy: Flute/Percussion Duo

We will be performing a program of our own original compositions that will take you on a musical journey around the world with pieces including "China Lily," a serene musical meditation played on a Chinese bamboo flute, "Motherland" featuring the African wooden xylophone called balafon, and "Fertile Crescent," which is a medley of our Middle Eastern pieces that was inspired by the Sufi musical tradition played on the ney flute, and culminates with an ecstatic dance number played on an Egyptian reed trance instrument called mijwiz with Middle Eastern drums.

We will play many other wonderful instruments such as the Indonesian suling, Native American flutes, the western alto and bass flutes, a one-of-a-kind hybrid world drum kit as well as a unique metal handpan instrument and other surprise instruments.

We hope to take you on a musical journey that not only introduces you to musical instruments and modes from faraway lands, but will invite you to sink into an experience that will inspire you to relax, smile, feel, and move to the music as we believe music has the power to transform us.

Although we compose our own music, we feel our music reflects ancient traditions from man's earliest days. Flutes and drums are the oldest instruments known to mankind, and the union of melody and rhythm is found throughout all cultures.

I (Suzanne) am a classically trained flutist (received my M.Mus in performance from Boston University School for the Arts) and Gilbert started his professional drumming career on Bourbon Street playing R & B and jazz as a teenager. But we both gravitated to learning and playing instruments from around the world and together, we create music that honors these historical musical traditions but we feel is uniquely our own.