Weekend concerts include Indian music and Continuum

On Friday, Oct. 26, the Barnes Hall stage features Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya. Well known in the world of Indian classical music, Bhattacharya (a disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar) has a unique style of playing the santoor -- the Indian version of the dulcimer -- that has offered new dimensions to the scope of this versatile instrument. Bhattacharya has performed extensively all over the world in top-notch venues and festivals, including Royal Albert Hall, London; the Kremlin, Moscow; the Palais de Beaux Arts, Brussels; and the BBC PROMS 100 year celebrations in the United Kingdom. Having recorded for numerous well-known music companies worldwide, Bhattacharya has over 30 releases. His recent CD, Nomad Christmas, under the Music of the World label, won a pre-Grammy nomination.

Continuum will present the world premiere of Cornell Professor Roberto Sierra's Sonata for Cello and Piano on Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall. Nan Melville

On Saturday, Oct. 27, the new-music ensemble Continuum will present a concert of contemporary works by seven different composers, including Conlon Nancarrow, George Crumb and Libby Larsen. Having performed at Cornell in the fall of 1998, Continuum returns to Barnes Hall to present the world premiere of a new work by Cornell's own Roberto Sierra, professor of music -- his Sonata for Cello and Piano. In addition to co-directors Cheryl Seltzer (piano) and Joel Sachs (piano, conductor), performing musicians include soprano Wonjung Kim, violinist Renée Jollés, cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper and clarinetist David Gresham.

Winner of the prestigious Siemens international prize for distinguished service to music and four ASCAP/Chamber Music America Awards for Adventuresome Programming, New York-based Continuum is now in its 36th season. Its name embodies the philosophy that new music and old form an unbroken tradition. Aiming to expand the audience for this century's music, Continuum has performed throughout the United States, including appearances at the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, at colleges and community series throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, in 23 tours to Europe, four to Asia and five to Latin America.

A prolific composer, Sierra has written for a vast range of media. Much of his music bears the unmistakable stamp of his Caribbean origins. Like several other important composers, his studies in Europe resulted in a powerful recognition of the need to ground himself in his own cultural heritage. In his Sonata for Cello and Piano (2001), the cello and piano are equal partners, often combined to produce novel tone colors and dynamic effects. The extreme separation of registers in the piano is characteristic of his piano writing.

In addition to this concert, Continuum will give a reading of works written by Cornell doctoral composition students Friday, Oct. 26, at 3 p.m. in Barnes Hall.