Kingston, R.I. — October 22, 1999 –The University of Rhode Island’s Department of Music will host a day-long symposium celebrating the music of Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) Friday, Nov. 12. The day’s culminating event is a “Bridging Time’ concert at 8 p.m. in the URI Fine Arts Center Recital Hall during which two local composers’ works will be featured. The evening concert includes “Days of the Maya” an homage to Revueltas composed by Geoffrey Gibbs, and “plantations” by Donald DeVoe, and “cuerdas, vientos y voces” by the Cuban-American composer Orlando Jacinto Garcia. The coming of the new millenium in Rhode Island will be celebrated at URI with concerts and other events that will explore time and attempt to create a ‘bridge’ between the present and future. Geoffrey Gibbs’ composition, “Days of the Maya,” is structured with the Mayan calendar in mind. No Native American culture was more concerned with time than the Mayans, who intertwined astronomical observation, numbers theory, and myth to create a complex time system, said Gibbs whose works have been performed in Russia, South America, and throughout the United States. Gibbs has been teaching music composition at URI since 1965. Donald DeVoe’s composition, “plantations” explores the nature of Rhode Island from plantation days to the present. “Rhode Islanders often forget the State is ‘Rhode Island and Providence Plantations’ said DeVoe who was formerly a composition student of Gibbs’. The piece is written for tuba and mandolin, and will be performed by the Buttery/Walach Duo who recently performed as part of the second-annual Tubarama at URI. Gary Buttery teaches tuba and euphonium students at URI, and is the director of URI’s Traditional Jazz Band. Besides Buttery and Walach, performers include Claudia Bissett, flute, Brian Sparks, alto saxophone, and Judy Buttery, bassoon. The ‘Bridging Time’ concert and the symposium commemorates the life and music of Silvestre Revueltas, one of the greatest Mexican classical composers, in the centennial year of his birth. He was born Dec. 31, 1899, so he is the last composer to have a centennial in this century. His legacy will be the catalyst to examine the music, visual art, poetry, film and history of Mexico. The music of Revueltas combines elements of 20th-century modernism, Mexican folk and street music, and pre-Colombian culture. The symposium includes three sessions including a 2 p.m. concert by the URI Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Ann Danis, which will perform the American premiere of Revueltas’ “Dance of Grandmother Nohpat and the Dwarfking.” The symposium is sponsored by the URI Department of Music, the URI Honors Program and the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities. The “Bridging Time” concert is sponsored by the URI Department of Music and Rhode Island 2000. Admission is free to all events. For more information about the symposium or “Bridging Time” concert, contact Gibbs at 401-874-2794. -xxx- For further information: Jan Sawyer, 874-2116