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THURSDAY

Guitarist Amos Coulanges is not your average tuxedo- and bow-tie-wearing string picker. The Haitian native was self-taught before he obtained a bachelor’s from the University of Ottawa and a master’s in musicology from the Sorbonne in Paris. Thus, while Coulanges’ precise and nimble fingerwork displays the standard influence of traditional melodic European styles from the 19th and 20th centuries, it also showcases, in an unforced manner, the complex modal scales of Haitian Vodou and other folkloric Caribbean and Hispanic genres. Interested in both bright and melancholy sounds, Coulanges will convey those musical moods and adeptly meld his Creole and academie chops in tonight’s program, which includes his own works, as well as those by Haitian pioneer Frantz Casseus, Spaniard Emilio Pujol, and Mexican Manuel Ponce. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Inter-American Development Bank’s Bello Auditorium, 1300 New York Ave. NW. Free. (202) 623-3774. (Steve Kiviat)