Houston, Texas—The famed multiphonic singers of Tibet’s Drepung Loseling Monastery, whose sellout performances in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center received national acclaim, will perform Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing in Houston as part of their international tour of The Mystical Arts of Tibet. The performance will be held at Asia Society Texas Center on Saturday, August 20. Tickets are $15 for Asia Society Members and $25 for Nonmembers.

The Mystical Arts of Tibet tour is co-produced by Richard Gere Productions and Drepung Loseling Institute, the North American Seat of Drepung Loseling Monastery, India.

The performance features multiphonic singing, wherein the monks simultaneously intone three notes of a chord. The Drepung Loseling monks are particularly renowned for this unique singing. They also utilize traditional instruments such as 10-foot-long dung-chen horns, drums, bells, cymbals, and gyaling trumpets. Rich brocade costumes and masked dances, such as the Dance of the Sacred Snow Lion, add to the exotic splendor.

The monks of Drepung Loseling have a very distinguished modern-day musical history. On past tours they have performed with Kitaro, Paul Simon, Philip Glass, Eddie Brickell, Natalie Merchant, Patti Smith, the Beastie Boys, and the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, to name but a few.

In addition, two of their recordings achieved top-10 listings on the New Age music charts: Tibetan Sacred Temple Music (Shining Star Productions) and Sacred Tibetan Chants (Music and Arts Program of America, Inc.). Their most recent recording, Compassion (Milennia Music), pairs the monks with the Abbey of Gethsemani Schola in an encounter of Gregorian chant with Tibetan multiphonic singing.

Their music was featured on the Golden Globe-nominated soundtrack of the film Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt (Columbia Pictures) and they performed with Philip Glass for Lincoln Center in the live presentation of his award-winning score to the Martin Scorsese film Kundun (Disney).

In response to the September 11 tragedies, the monks had the honor of creating special mandalas and leading prayer ceremonies and meditations in New York and Washington, D.C. Organized in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution, these events were dedicated to the healing and protection of America.

The Loseling monks have twice been featured artists at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, representing Tibetan culture, and in July 2003, they enjoyed the rare honor of representing Tibet in the Cultural Olympiad of Greece, a pre-Olympic celebration of World Sacred Music and Dance. For this event the monks toured Greece and performed at venues that included the Acropolis and ancient Olympia, the historic site of the original Olympics.

Bank of America is the presenting sponsor of Performing Asia programs at Asia Society. To purchase tickets for the August 20 performance, please click here.

Download the press release here.