William & Mary’s Middle Eastern Music Ensemble to Perform at W&L The March 6 performance will showcase the musical traditions Arab, Turkish, Persian, Armenian and Greek cultures.

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
February 19, 2026

The Middle Eastern Music Ensemble of the College of William & Mary will perform at Washington and Lee University at 7:30 p.m. on March 6 in Wilson Concert Hall in the Lenfest Center for the Arts.

The event is free and open to the public, and the doors will open at 7 p.m. Following the concert, audience members will have the opportunity to come onstage and view the instruments.

Since its formation in 1994, the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble has welcomed students, faculty members and community members to explore the styles and repertoires of Arab, Turkish, Persian, Armenian and Greek musical traditions. Performances feature traditional Middle Eastern instruments — including the ‘ud (a fretless lute), nay (a reed flute) and daff (a frame drum) — along with instruments more familiar to Western audiences, such as the violin, viola and clarinet.

The ensemble is directed by Anne Rasmussen, professor of music and ethnomusicology and the Bickers Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at William & Mary.

The performance is supported by W&L’s Middle East and South Asia Studies program, the Department of Art and Art History, the Department of History, the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Theater, Dance and Film Studies.

For a full list of performances, visit the Lenfest Center’s website.

The Lenfest Center for the Arts, home of the Department of Theater, Dance, and Film Studies, the Department of Music and Department of Art and Art History is a multi-use facility designed and equipped to accommodate a broad spectrum of the performing arts, including theater, musical theater, opera and operetta, choral and band music, dance and performance art in one energizing complex.