Tibetan monks to sing

Robed in magnificent costumes, playing traditional instruments and intoning three notes simultaneously, the monks of Tibet’s Drepung Loseling Monastery bring their sacred music and dance to the Wisconsin Union Theater on Friday, Oct. 10, at 8 p.m.

Known as “overtone singing,” the multiphonic tradition is accomplished by controlling the muscles of the vocal cavity and reshaping it while singing.

Believed to generate energies conducive to world healing, the performance’s 10 pieces include chanting, music, dances and costumes.

The monks will create a mandala at Memorial Union by shaping millions of grains of painted sand into a painting. When finished, the mandala is destroyed to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists. The sands are poured into a nearby river or stream, where the waters carry the healing energies throughout the world.

The mandala will be built Tuesday, Oct. 7, 1-7 p.m. and Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 8-9, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. On Friday, Oct. 10, the monks will work on the mandala from 10-11 a.m. and conduct the closing ceremony at noon.

Other Wisconsin Union Theater performances include:

• The Italian band Fiamma Fumana opens for the Mahotella Queens, one of South Africa’s most beloved musical groups on Saturday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $29, $28 for Union members.
• The Concert Series season opens Friday, Oct. 3, at 8 p.m. with the brilliant St. Lawrence String Quartet, accompanied by clarinetist Todd Palmer. Tickets are $30, $28 for Union members.

Information: 262-2201, http://www.union.wisc.edu/theater.