Harmony for Mayo presents the Fuad Mansour Music and Dance Series

Monday, October 31, 2005

ROCHESTER, Minn. — During November and early December, a special sequence of Harmony for Mayo performances called "Windows on the World" will be offered on Mondays from 12:10 to 1 p.m. at various locations throughout the Mayo Clinic campus. All performances are free and open to the public.

The music and dance series is offered as part of the annual Fuad Mansour Program which celebrates the life of Fuad Mansour, a Mayo employee who made major contributions to Mayo Clinic and the Rochester community before his death in 1997. The program promotes peace, cultural diversity, youth-related education and mentorship activities.

Nov. 7: Sankofa, a Ghanaian folklore and dance ensemble, will perform in Phillips Hall, Siebens Medical Education Building, first floor, 100 Second Ave. S.W.

"Sankofa" means "we must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward." The group is led by Sowah Mensah, a native of Ghana in western Africa. As an ethnomusicologist, composer and a "master drummer," Mensah has taught music in Ghana and Nigeria, and currently teaches at Macalester College and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

Nov. 14: Spanish flamenco guitarist Michael Hauser will lead four other artists in a music and dance performance in Barbara Woodward Lips Atrium, subway level, Rochester Methodist Hospital, Charlton Building, 10 Third Ave. N.W.

Hauser is one of a handful of flamenco guitar masters who lives in the United States. He has performed in Europe and the Far East and has completed numerous college and community tours as a soloist. He is a founder of the dance company, Zorongo Flamenco.

Nov. 21: Ragamala will perform traditional music and dance from southern India in Phillips Hall, Siebens Medical Education Building, first floor, 100 Second Ave. S.W.

Formed in 1992 by Ranee Ramaswamy, Ragamala seeks to preserve the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam. The group combines classical work with cross-cultural collaborations to demonstrate the versatility, depth and contemporary vitality of Bharatanatyam.

Nov. 28: Spirit of Nature, a Chinese musical ensemble, will perform in Barbara Woodward Lips Atrium, subway level, Rochester Methodist Hospital, Charlton Building, 10 Third Ave. N.W.

The group includes Chen Tao playing woodwind instruments such as the flute, xun, dizi, xiao and bawu; Gao Hong playing the Chinese lute (pipa); and Xia Wenjie playing the erhu, zhonghu and gaohu. Their repertoire includes the best of Chinese classical, court, folk, silk and bamboo, percussion, minority, and contemporary music.

Dec. 5: Amwaaj, an Arabic ensemble, will perform traditional Middle Eastern dance and music in Barbara Woodward Lips Atrium, subway level, Rochester Methodist Hospital, Charlton Building, 10 Third Ave. N.W.

"Amwaaj" means "waves" in Arabic. The group includes Salah Fattah, originally from Egypt, on violin and oud; Laura Harada on violin; Tim O'Keefe on percussion and oud; Dawn Doering on nay; Alexis Hernandez-Abreu on cello; and Nick Chbat, originally from Lebanon, on percussion.

Harmony for Mayo and the Fuad Mansour Program are sponsored by Mayo Center for Humanities in Medicine, and presented in cooperation with Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester. The performances are broadcast live on Mayo Clinic's patient/visitor channel 10. Harmony for Mayo is made possible by a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Tomas Furth of Caracas, Venezuela, and New York City. The annual Fuad Mansour Program is funded through gifts from Mansour's friends and family.

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To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.