Tibetan Buddhist Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery will construct a Mandala Sand Painting at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, with opening ceremony on Thursday and closing ceremony and sand dispersal on Sunday (Nov. 8 and 11, 2007).

The Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery will also perform a public program of music and dance on Saturday, November 10 at Chenery Auditorium. www.mysticalartsoftibet.org

David Schrader *, who has appeared on the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in many roles, is equally at home in front of a harpsichord, organ, piano, or fortepiano. He is organist of the Church of the Ascension in Chicago, has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and performs regularly with Music of the Baroque, the Newberry Consort, and Bach Week in Evanston. www.davidschrader.com *

The Kalamazoo Singers, Thomas Kasdorf, Director www.kalamazoosingers.org, and the Kalamazoo Children’s Chorus, Fred Sang, Director www.kalamazoochildrenschorus.org, will present a Sunday afternoon concert at First Presbyterian Church.

Dawud Wharnsby

Mohamad Aburatib

Internationally known Muslim singer-songwriter Dawud Wharnsby returns by popular demand for a Saturday afternoon (Nov. 10, 2007) performance of English-language nasheed and original works. www.enterintopeace.com

Mohamad Aburatib, internationally known singer, performs Arabic- language nasheed.

Take 6, award-winning a capella gospel sextet, performs at Miller Auditorium Also on the program Kalamazoo’s NAEA GospelFest Choir directed by Roland Sunkins. (Patrons who also purchase an MFSM ticket package receive a $5 discount on this event.)

Public Radio's Ellen Kushner www.ellenkushner.com returns to the MFSM. She will moderate a multi-faith discussion on Thursday evening, as well as premiere a new radio drama created in collaboration with Yale Strom www.yalestrom.com and Elizabeth Schwartz www.voiceofklezmer.com on Saturday. The three artists will participate in other activities during the weekend.

Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra's Maestro Raymond Harvey, piano, joins KSO Artists-in-Residence to present Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" Thursday night, Nov. 8, 2007. www.kalamazoosymphony.com

Multi-faith discussion moderated by Ellen Kushner follows.

Greg Secor

Also on the Thursday night program, KSO percussionist Greg Secor performs "A Robe of Orange Flame" by Christopher Deane.

Chicago-based Capriccio Donna Milanovich *, flute, and Stephen Hartman, harp, and guests Emily Lodine, vocalist (featured in the award-winning documentary film “Mystery of Love”), and Elizabeth Start, cellist, present a program of music based on Hebraic themes on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 8, 2007. www.flute-harp.com *

Rohan Krishnamurthy, mridangam S. Indian drum, www.rohanrhythm.com, leads a youthful quartet in South Indian music and dance on Sunday, November 11, 2007.

Sacred flute program at noon on Friday, Nov.9, 2007 features Michael Gould, shakuhachi. www.chikuzenstudios.com

Kalamazoo's Sacred Harp Shapenote Singers present a one-hour video, discussion, and workshop session, as a fringe event on Wednesday night, Nov.7, 2007.

On June 27, 2006, the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music collaborated with a large consortium of Kalamazoo arts organizations to present a program of Javanese Shadow Puppetry and Gamelan. For details on this program and the U.S. tour of this group, visit www.purboasmoro.com

Tapestry The Michigan Festival of Sacred Music brought back the critically-acclaimed Boston-based vocal chamber ensemble Tapestry for the Festival's fall 2006 "Off-Season" event. Tapestry did a choral residency with Cantus Femina, Western Michigan University's women's choir, and performed their own inimitable chamber music, with voices and percussion, as well as works in collaboration with Cantus Femina. Repertoire included works by Hildegard von Bingen, including excerpts from her Ordu Virtutem. There also were works by living composers Patricia Van Ness and Robert Kyr, some specifically written for Tapestry combined antiphonally with women's chorus.

This presentation is supported by the Performing Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest funded by the National Endowment for the Arts with additional contributions from General Mills Foundation, Land O'Lakes Foundation, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Burdick-Thorne String Quartet Friday night, November 11, 2005, in collaboration with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, the Burdick-Thorne String Quartet, KSO Artists-in-Residence, performed F.J Haydn's string quartet based on the Seven Last Words of Christ. Speakers representing Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Buddhist perspectives presented brief reflections/meditations between movements. The program was followed by a lively and meaningful discussion. Speakers were Jeffrey A. Summit, Mary Ellen Ashcroft, Mynti Hossain, and Paula Jamison, with Marty Newman providing an introduction and serving as discussion moderator.

Kalapriya Dance Pranita Jain, Artistic Director Kalapriya Dance, Pranita Jain, Artistic Director, performs selections from the Bharata Natyam repertory at the First Methodist Church of Kalamazoo, Saturday, November 12th, 2005, 1 pm. They will also provide a workshop in Indian dance at the Epic Theatre at 11 that morning. (photo taken by Michael Filler)

Chicago Children's Choir The Chicago Children's Choir performed a diverse multi-faith program on Saturday, November 12, 2005 at 8:00 pm. at First Presbyterian Church in Kalamazoo. They were led by Associate Director Judy Hanson, who also presented a wonderful day of clinics for Kalamazoo area middle school students on Monday, November 14th.

Dawud Wharnsby Performed Saturday afternoon, November 12, 2005. A third generation Canadian with Scottish and British roots, Dawud Wharnsby's recordings and reputation have established him as an institution in the realm of English language Nasheed (spiritual songs of a world-beat/folk style, drawn from Islamic cultural and musical tradition). Merging the Celtic/folk styles of his upbringing with sounds and embellishments of the Middle and Far East, Wharnsby's unique lyrical style, warm voice and knack for penning catchy melodies have yielded a rich reception from his listeners world-wide. Wharnsby also presented two workshops at Lincoln Elementary School on November 14th.

Jeffrey A. Summit Rabbi and Ethnomusicologist Jeffrey A. Summit participated as a speaker, in discussion, and presenting programs sharing his insights into melody choice and how it defines us, Jewish music in America, and the Abayudaya music of Ugandan Jews. Summit is the Executive Director of the Hillel Foundation at Tufts University, as well as Chaplain and Associate Professor in the Department of Music. He holds Rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and a Ph.D. from Tufts University where he studied ethnomusicology in Tufts interdisciplinary doctoral program. An accomplished musician, he has performed Jewish and traditional American music throughout the United States, as well as in England and Israel.

Felix HellBack by popular demand, young virtouso organist Felix Hell, who wowed MFSM audiences in 2003, returned to do the same for our festival finale concert, Sunday November 13, 2005, on the Létourneau organ at First Baptist Church. He also performed a free noon-time concert at the First Congregational Church in Battle Creek, presented a masterclass for Western Michigan University and other area AGO organists at First United Methodist Church in Kalamazoo, and presented an educational workshop for youth as part of the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival's Keys Club at the First Congregational Church in Battle Creek.

The 2005 presentations of Felix Hell and the Chicago Children's Choir were supported by the Heartland Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest funded by the National Endowment for the Arts with additional contributions from General Mills Foundation, Land O'Lakes Foundation, Sprint Corporation, and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs