A Los Angeles premiere screening celebrates American composer, artist, writer and activist Lou Harrison (1917–2003), who forged a new course for 20th-century music with hauntingly beautiful pieces using western, eastern, and custom-made instruments inspired by Javanese gamelan and the Chinese zheng. Directed by filmmaker and music producer Eva Soltes, the feature-length documentary Lou Harrison: A World of Music is drawn from over 25 years and 300 hours of performances, rehearsals and interviews conducted with Harrison, his contemporaries and his life partner William Colvig. This extraordinary film is preceded by a performance of Harrison’s Suite for Violin and American Gamelan (1973), demonstrating his signature use of Pacific Rim-inspired microtones, performed by violinist Mark Menzies and CalArts percussionists on “Old Granddad,” a gamelan built to Harrison’s specifications.

In person: Eva Soltes