Piano and percussion duo to perform

Synchronicity, a highly acclaimed piano and percussion duo from New York City, will present a concert at Northwestern College’s Christ Chapel on Thursday, April 7, at 7 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Orange City Arts Council and Northwestern College.

Advance tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students (kindergarten through college). They can be purchased at the Dove Christian Bookstore in Orange City, the Orange City Arts Council’s office in Town Hall, and Northwestern’s music department in DeWitt Music Hall. Tickets at the door are $7 for adults and $4 for students.

Synchronicity features pianist and composer Garah Landes and his brother, Gregory, a percussionist. Founded in 1997, the duo fuses classical and jazz music into an exciting and highly visual experience. Synchronicity has performed nationally and in Europe while also conducting master classes, workshops and educational programs. Featured at the Tribeca New Music Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Tanglewood Jazz Festival, they have collaborated in recent years with Grammy Award-winning clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera.

The April 7 concert will include guest flutist John Erickson of Alton, the band director at MOC-Floyd Valley Middle School. Erickson and Garah Landes collaborated on a Christmas CD in 2004.

A select choir of students from MOC-Floyd Valley, Sheldon, Sioux Center, Spalding and Unity Christian high schools will join Synchronicity on Adiemus, directed by Northwestern’s Dr. Thomas Holm. The concert will also include Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite, Prelude, Fugue and Riffs by Leonard Bernstein, and Last Look, a tribute written by Garah Landes in honor of their father, a jazz pianist and composer.

Synchronicity will also perform with the Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra on April 5; play for Northwestern College’s chapel that day; and present assemblies at MOC-Floyd Valley Middle School and High School on April 5 and 7, respectively.

Garah Landes has concertized as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States. The organist and choirmaster at St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church in Ridgewood, N. J., he earned a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

Gregory Landes has appeared as both a timpanist and percussionist in many symphony orchestras, as well as a drummer and percussionist for many Broadway productions. A master’s degree graduate of the Juilliard School, he has performed in every major concert hall in New York.

More information about Synchronicity is at www.synchronicitymusic.com. Several of the duo’s videos can be viewed on youtube.com by searching for Garah Landes.