By Kathleen Suss, Directory, Concordia Conservatory

Jan. 17, 2024: Concordia Conservatory presents the More Than Music concert, Dances From Around the World, on Sunday, February 4 at 4 pm with Concordia Conservatory faculty Roberto Granados, guitar, Maria Ilić, piano, and Yousif Sheronick, percussion.

The concert will take place at The Reformed Church of Bronxville, Edwards Room, 180 Pondfield Road, Bronxville.

This 45-minute concert/lecture program invites you on a captivating journey through various dance forms, exploring emotions from joyous and vibrant to contemplative and melancholic.

Spanning from the Baroque to modern times, it showcases the evolution of music and dance styles with works by Élisabeth de La Guerre, Muzio Clementi, and Béla Bartók.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $12.50 for seniors and children.

To purchase tickets, visit www.concordiaconservatory.org or call 914-395-4507.

About Roberto Granados

Roberto Granados is a guitarist and composer originally from Hayward, California.

He holds a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Music from California State University East Bay, where he studied with Marc Teicholz, and the degrees Master of Music, Master of Musical Arts, and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Verdery.

Roberto has performed widely in numerous venues in collaboration with various ensembles and artists, including the San Francisco Guitar Quartet, the California Symphony, the Santa Cruz Symphony, Jon Anderson of British progressive rock band Yes, and ukulele soloist Jake Shimabukuro.

Roberto composes music varying from solo and ensemble instrumental works to electronic and electroacoustic pieces, and often experimenting with elements of noise, improvisation, indeterminacy and altered tuning systems.

He has premiered and composed new works for guitar and other instruments in collaboration with the Bay Area Composers Group collective, including several concerts at the Center for New Music in San Francisco and an online livestream premiere series.

Roberto has also performed extensively as a flamenco guitarist, and has released an album of flamenco music, Soñador (2018). He writes music for an internet-based solo multi-instrumental progressive metal project under the alias of The Halcyon Effect, and does work in audio production, performance art and visual art in his free time.

About Pianist Marija Ilić

Marija Ilić is a dedicated and expressive performer of the standard repertoire, as well as the newest music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

She has been praised as a compelling, poetic, and decisive musician by the New York Times, and noted for her quiet intensity.

Her performances include recitals at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Clark Studio Theater at Lincoln Center, 92nd Street Y and Merkin Hall, Trinity Church, the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., as well as at the Music Festival of the Hamptons, Norfolk Contemporary Music Festival, Hoch Chamber Music Series at Concordia College, Skinner Hall at Vassar College, Western Washington, Princeton, and Loyola Universities, and abroad at the Aldeburgh Festival in England and Musica Viva, Kolarac Hall, and Parliament Hall in Belgrade (Serbia), Constanta (Romania), and Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), among others.

She has worked closely with some of today’s most important composers, including William Bolcom, Martin Bresnick, George Crumb, Oliver Knussen, Meredith Monk, Richard Wilson, and Aleksandra Vrebalov.

Marija Ilić performs in a piano duo with Milica Jelača Jovanović, playing concerts in Europe and the United States, and is the founding principal pianist of Christopher Caines Dance Company.

A native of Belgrade, Serbia, Marija holds her undergraduate degree from the Belgrade Music Academy, her graduate degree from the Mannes College of Music, and a doctorate in piano performance from Rutgers University.

She can be heard on New World Records, Mutable Music, Innova and Silent Treatment Music labels, and her solo piano CD on MSR Music label, with music by J. S. Bach.

She is on the faculty at Vassar College and Concordia Conservatory, where she is also the artistic director for the More Than Music concert series.

Hailed by the New York Times for his “dazzling improvisations” and his “wizardry on a range of humble frame drums” Yousif Sheronick enjoys an active career as percussionist, composer, producer and educator.

After graduation from Yale, Yousif went on to study music from Brazil, India, Africa and the Middle East which he incorporates into his playing.

Yousif’s unique skills in both World and Classical music have led him to perform with Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Laurie Anderson, Ethos Percussion Group, Lark Quartet, Silk Road Ensemble, Branford Marsalis, Sonny Fortune, Cindy Blackman Santana, Glen Velez and Paul Winter.

His many musical influences are highlighted in duoJalal, his venture with violist and wife Kathryn Lockwood.

Yousif has become a major force in bringing world percussion into contemporary/classical music working with composers Evan Ziporyn, Derek Bermel, Kenji Bunch, Ljova and John Patitucci.

As a composer, Yousif’s compositions have been premiered and performed around the world and released under his publishing company, Bribie Recordings.

He has arranged for the Lark Quartet including John Adams’ Book of Alleged Dances on Bridge Records label.

As an educator, Yousif has conducted residencies and master classes at Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, University of Michigan, University of Kentucky, the Queensland Conservatorium and National University in Australia and throughout Taiwan.

Yousif has also established an online frame drum school www.framedrumschool.org with enrollment of over 1,000 students from 68 countries. He is on the faculty of Concordia Conservatory for the past 27 years.

His appearances include North and South America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia with festival appearances including the JVC and Newport Jazz Festivals, Jazztel (Madrid), Renaissance Festival (Rethymno, Greece) Early Music Festival (Regensburg, Germany) and Jerusalem Festival.

Prestigious venue performances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl, Royal Festival Hall (London) and Wigmore Hall (London). Yousif holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Iowa.