The Magic Triangle Jazz Series, produced by WMUA, 91.1FM and the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, concludes its 16th season on Thursday, April 28, in Bezanson Recital Hall at 8:00pm with a performance by Susie Ibarra’s Electric Kulintang, featuring Ibarra and Roberto J. Rodriguez on all manner of percussion and electronics.

"Susie Ibarra is one of the best and brightest young drummers to come out of New York (or anywhere) in the last few years," writes John Corbett in Downbeat.

Over the last decade, drummer and composer Susie Ibarra has established herself as one of the premier percussionists of her generation. Ibarra has played with some of the most notable figures on the creative music scene, from tenor-saxophonist David S. Ware and pianist Cecil Taylor, to the visionary composer Pauline Olivaros. John Zorn, William Parker and Wadada Leo Smith have also been frequent past collaborators. Ibarra currently performs solo, duets with bassist Mark Dresser and guitarist Derek Bailey, with her trio (Jennifer Choi and Craig Taborn) and Mephista (Sylvie Courvoisier and Ikue Mori), in addition to Electric Kulintang. She also has produced children's music (with her husband Roberto J. Rodriguez), called “Mundo Ninos”. She has toured with Yo La Tengo and Gil Scott Heron.

Ibarra grew up in a small Filipino community in Houston, where she was first exposed to the kulintang. Related to the Indonesian gamelan, the kulintang consists of eight tuned, knobbed gongs suspended in a wooden frame, and is integral to the cultural life of Filipinos all over the world.

"Ibarra is absolutely explosive behind the drum set,” writes Modern Drummer.

Roberto J. Rodriguez is a Cuban-born, Miami-raised percussionist whose career currently includes work with John Zorn, Joe Jackson, Mark Ribot, Dr. L. Subramanian and Steve Bernstein. An American Music Awards Recipient and Grammy Awards Nominee, Rodriguez has won wide critical acclaim for El Danzon de Moises (2002) and Baila! Gitano Baila! (2004) on Tzadik Records. Blending Latin and Jewish music, these records are a “transcultural journey of delight, surprise, humor, and elegance,” says the All Music Guide. “This music swings, sweeps, swirls, weeps, moans, and laughs until the tears fall.”

Tickets are $12/general public and $7/students, and are available through the Fine Arts Center Box Office, 1-800-999-UMAS.

The Magic Triangle Jazz Concert Series is a production of WMUA-FM and Residential Arts, and funded by the: UMass Arts Council, Student Affairs Cultural Enrichment Fund, Alumni Association, Commuter Area Government and the Fine Arts Center. Additional support from: Campus Center Hotel and 88.5 WFCR, Public Radio for Western New England.