Tibetan Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery to perform Sacred Music, Sacred Dances March 16, 17 at Rozsa

Mystical Arts of Tibet poster courtesy Rozsa Center.

HOUGHTON -- The Mystical Arts of Tibet Featuring the Tibetan Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery will culminate in two performances of Sacred Music and Sacred Dances at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 16, and Saturday, March 17, at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. All seats are $20.

The Sacred Music Sacred Dance performance is comprised of eleven selections. As described in the program, "the monks invoke creative awareness within themselves and the audience. As they sing in the multiphonic style typical of Drepung Loseling's dominant role at the annual Monlam Chenmo Festival, the monks create a world as seen through the eyes of inner perfection. This is sent forth as an offering for world healing."

The Drepung Loseling monks are featured on the Golden Globe-nominated soundtrack of the motion picture Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt. They also performed with Philip Glass in the live premiere presentation of his Academy Award nominated music/score to the Martin Scorsese film Kundun. On previous tours the monks have shared the stage with Philip Glass, Kitaro, Paul Simon, Sheryl Crow, Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, Natalie Merchant, the Beastie Boys, and many others. As well as performing in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the Herbst Theater and the Ravinia Festival, they have appeared in hundreds of university auditoriums, civic halls, festivals and churches across the country.

Tibetan Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery perform sacred dance. (Photo courtesy Rozsa Center)

These Tibetan monks have been working all week on a Sand Mandala in the Rozsa lobby. The Sand Mandala Closing Ceremonies will take place at 9 p.m. (after the dance performance) on Saturday, March 17, in the Rozsa lobby. According to the Washington Post, sand mandala creation is described as "A Universal expression of the human subconscious…it transports you."

To symbolize the impermanence of life, the monks then sweep up the sand mandala. Audience members will be given vials of this sand as keepsakes of the ceremony. This event is free and open to the public.

To purchase tickets to Sacred Music Sacred Dance, call (906) 487-2073, go online at rozsa.tickets.mtu.edu, or visit Ticketing Operations at Michigan Tech’s Student Development Complex (SDC), 600 MacInnes Drive, in Houghton. SDC box office hours are 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday, and noon - 8 p.m. Sunday. Please note the Rozsa Box Office will only open two hours prior to show times.

This event is sponsored in part by the Katherine M. Bosch Endowment and the James and Margaret Black Endowment. 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 Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, General Mills Foundation, and Land O’Lakes Foundation.