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The Elizabeth Pollard Fetter Chamber Music Program has been an integral part of the Swarthmore College performance program for four decades. It began in 1975 as the ""Pollard Scholarship Funds,"" with an initial contribution from Elizabeth Pollard Fetter '25 in memory of her mother, Emilie Garrett Pollard '93. With the passing of Elizabeth Pollard Fetter in 1977, husband Frank Whitson Fetter '20 stepped forward to endow the Elizabeth Pollard Fetter String Quartet Scholarships at Swarthmore College. Dozens of student musicians were subsequently supported in their desire to explore the string quartet repertoire.

The Department of Music presents Swarthmore ensemble Critical Mass, directed by James Blasina, on Saturday, December 7th at 3pm in the Lang Concert Hall.

Swarthmore College encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact Susan Smythe, ADA Program Manager at 610-690-2063 in advance of your participation or visit.

Opera engagements have included major roles at leading opera houses worldwide including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Dutch National Opera, Dallas Opera, the Bregenz Festival and Oper Köln. He has been involved in many world premieres including Alexander Knaifel’s Alice in Wonderland, several operas by Michel van der Aa, the title role in Robert Saxton’s The Wandering Jew, and the UK premiere of Sally Beamish’s Judas Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment.

He performs regularly with all the BBC orchestras, and many other ensembles including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, Britten Sinfonia, Bournemouth Symphony and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Abroad Roderick has worked with the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and Bach Collegium Japan amongst others. His many festival appearances include the BBC Proms (including the Last Night in 2014), Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Bath, Aldeburgh and Melbourne Festivals.

Julius Drake’s many recordings include a widely acclaimed series with Gerald Finley for Hyperion Records of which ‘Songs by Samuel Barber’, ‘Schumann: Dichterliebe & other Heine Settings’ and ‘Britten: Songs & Proverbs of William Blake’ won the 2007, 2009 and 2011 Gramophone Awards; recordings with Ian Bostridge and Alice Coote for EMI; with Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Matthew Polenzani for Wigmore Live; and with Anna Prohaska for Alpha. Julius Drake’s recording of Janácek’s ‘The Diary of One Who Disappeared’, with tenor Nicky Spence and mezzo-soprano Václava Housková for Hyperion Records, won both the Gramophone and the BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2020.

Hans was born (1961) and raised in Hamburg, spent 1978-1979 in Los Angeles and now lives in Hoffnungsthal, Germany. He studied classical piano at the Hamburg Konservatorium and Jazz piano at the Musikhochschule Köln and at the Banff Centre (Canada). As a solo piano player, Hans combines acoustic and “virtual” piano sounds into a microtonal instrument. He has worked with Jan Garbarek, Paul Bley, Marc Ducret, Toumani Diabaté, Muhal Richard Abrams and Heinz Sauer. Since 2013 he is leading the French-German TransEuropeExpress-Ensemble. As a composer, Hans has created an extensive opus, having also received commissions for compositions from the WDR (a major German broadcaster), the bigband of the NDR (another major broadcast station in Germany, well known in particular for its big band), and the Opera Köln. Amongst his publications are the „Rhythmic Etudes“ (a volume of compositions), the solo-CD “das reale Klavier“ and the record „Polyjazz“ done with TransEuropeExpress. The CD - box “die kunst des trios“ received the 2013 „ECHO Jazz“ award; the record „mikroPULS“ was one of the records of the year 2019 at „NewYorkCityJazzRecord“. The record-Trilogie „on the edges 1 - 3“ appeared in 2022/23. Between 1993 and 2008, Lüdemann has taught Jazz-piano and ensemble at the Musikhochschule Köln. He was „Cornell Visiting Professor“ at Swarthmore College in 2009/10 and in 2015/16. Hans was awarded composition grants by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in 2014 and the academy of culture Tarabya Istanbul in 2021. In 2021/22, Hans Lüdemann received the Rome-award Villa Massimo for composition.

Aly was born 1969 in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), the son of parents from Mali and with the nationality of Mali. Since 2001, Aly lives in Berlin (Germany). He is from a Malinké family that for generations has worked in the profession of „griots“, that is, of traditional singers and musicians. Aly spent his childhood in Abidjan and in Mali where he learned to play the traditional pentatonic balaphon, in the beginning taught by Zouratié Coulibaly. Later, Aly built himself a diatonic balaphon and finally developed the chromatic balaphon which he nowadays mostly plays. He has worked with many well-known artists in African music as well as in Jazz and classical music - Pharoah Sanders, Amadou & Mariam, Trilok Gurtu, Rhoda Scott, Joe Zawinul, Rokia Traoré - and appeared on records by Majid Bekkas, Omar Sosa and Parco Sery, and the band „Kalan Tegan“. Aly has been a guest at important international festivals and has appeared as soloist as well as in ensembles in prestigious concert halls – e.g., in the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Philharmony at Köln and the Konzerthaus Wien. Aly regularly gives solo concerts. In 2010 he did a two-month tour through Eastern and Southern Africa for the CCF/Institut Francais. In 2012/13 he toured Europe and the USA as the musical leader of „Acoustic Africa“, and 2018 with the project „Kirina“ by Rokia Traoré. His first CD „Akwaba“, done as his own project, appeared in 2007; a balaphon solo-CD appeared in 2010. In the same year Aly received the German world music award „Creole“.

„Collisione Mondiale“ is a cooperative project of musicians from Europe, Africa and the US that is including a concert premiere and a number of activities involving students. It is conceived and directed by Pianist and Composer Hans Lüdemann, former Swarthmore Cornell professor. Working across boundaries and in cooperation has been a principle in his work with the Afro-European TRIO IVOIRE and the French-German TransEuropeExpress-Ensemble. In „Collisione Mondiale“, his Cooper project for Swarthmore College, he will use a similar approach of cooperative creation. The project is bringing together musicians of the TRIO IVOIRE, Balaphon master Aly Keita and drummer Christian Thomé, with Ukrainian singer Tamara Lukasheva and American Jazz artists: bassist Nick Dunston from New York, violinist Mark Feldman from Chicago and saxophonist Bobby Zankel from Philadelphia. The project includes the interpretation of excerpts of his opera, compositions, improvisations and creative work with the other artists and the students in workshops, rehearsals and performances, involving individual student singers and instrumentalists – both Jazz and Classical. Creative input from the students is welcome and will find professional assistance in its development.

Jeremy studied music and anthropology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After training as an operatic tenor in the Western classical tradition, he expanded his professional repertoire to include the traditional singing style and songs of his community. Jeremy’s music transcends boundaries: unapologetically playful in its incorporation of classical influences, full of reverence for the traditional songs of his home, and teeming with the urgency of modern-day resistance.