Piedmont Duo Performs Mariola

Violist Ayn Balija and Percussionist I-Jen Fang, aka the Piedmont Duo, perform Mariola on 3/29 on their program Guiding Light: Music for Viola and Marimba,  at the College Music Society MidAtlantic conference. Commissioned and premiered by them, Mariola will appear on their upcoming album. Named for the combination of the 2 instruments, Mariola also refers to a very hardy shrub that grows in the dry southwestern regions of the US. It manages to survive difficult conditions and reaches up through the dry soil, forming delicate white flowers in the summer. This seemed a perfect metaphor not only for the compositional process, but also the situation of contemporary concert music in the US, and of course beyond.