Immersive artist and musician Maria Finkelmeier tells stories by blending genres

Sometimes, the artists performing in the Celebrity Series of Boston don’t have to travel very far. Maria Finkelmeier, who is based here, is certainly a local superstar. To call her a virtuoso marimba player, percussionist and artist is just not enough — she is basically an entire art scene herself.

She’s an entrepreneur and educator who creates immersive art experiences. Probably the biggest was “ Waking the Monster ,” an installation that turned Fenway Park’s Green Monster into a giant percussion instrument.

This weekend, Finkelmeier will be performing on the marimba alongside fellow marimba Steph Davis, with Angela Shankar playing clarinet. It’s the first time the Celebrity Series of Boston has featured two celebrity marimbas on the same stage. She joined GBH’s All Things Considered host Arun Rath to share more about the upcoming performance. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.

Arun Rath: I’m really excited to talk about your music and this collaboration. Like you, Steph Davis does a lot more than play the marimba — they’re a social activist. They work across genres the way that you do. Can you tell us a little more about their music and the mix of styles that we’ll be hearing on Saturday?

Maria Finkelmeier: Absolutely. When Celebrity Series reached out and said, “We’d love to feature you and Steph,” Steph and I got to work. We had a lot of really wonderful conversations about what is the marimba — what does it mean to us? What does it mean culturally, personally in this moment, but also historically?

I think both of us come to the instrument from very different backgrounds and experiences, and we really wanted to bring that to the forefront of the program because, while it’s exciting to say we have two marimbas, both of us, again, have this very unique styles and approach to it. We really wanted to highlight that, but also just present the audience with the warmth and timbral, meditative expression that the marimba can give us.

We’re each going to play our own half of the concert and really have thought about how they connect, but also how they can live on their own. Steph is going to present a lot of beautiful pieces that both they and their colleagues have arranged that put the Black diaspora at the forefront of the marimba historically.

Angela and I will perform a couple of pieces that are primarily arrangements, so I was really excited to say the marimba is a young instrument in its kind of contemporary sense, and how do we pull from this other repertoire — whether that’s tango pieces for guitar, or even some Bach — and then some pieces that I’ve written. So, how can we kind of explore what could be next for the instrument itself?

Rath: Storytelling really seems to be an element that is common with your styles. You mentioned that Steph Davis will be telling stories in a way from the African diaspora. What kind of stories will you be playing?

Finkelmeier: I will be telling a bit of my own life story through the program. I’m going to be performing two of my original works. So an original work that I wrote 12 years ago and a work that I had written just last year that really exemplifies my exploration of electronics and contemporary classical music. It’s going to be really fun for me to look at this kind of growth in my style, and then, how all of these different experiences — whether it’s banging on Fenway Park or exploring video art or exploring all these types of music — to kind of see how my own style has progressed.

Additionally, I’m going to play with Angela Shankar on clarinet an arrangement of Icelandic folk songs. I lived in Sweden, particularly, but I got really involved in Northern culture and Scandinavian culture. Angela and I were able to travel to Iceland to perform our duo, and so we wanted to bring in that kind of context to our growth as two individual artists, but also as friends and as a duo.

And then, the Bach cello suite, which I perform often — it’s the prelude to his cello suite number one in G major, which is just so popular and so loved by so many people. My conversation there is about: This is where I’ve come from, from my classical music journey and how I’ve felt excited to explore all of these different genres. But every time, I kind of come home to that piece, I feel a sense of warmth.

So the storytelling there is like, “Where do you feel warm, and where do you go back to as an audience member and as a listener? How do we honor that, while also looking to the future?”

Rath: You mentioned the duo that you’re in with Angela Shankar on clarinet. You’re called the Clone Duo. Probably, like most people, when I think of the clarinet and marimba, I think of Mika and Richard Stoltzmen, who have performed here before. But, here in Clone Duo, you two sound so different. It’s all your own thing.

Finkelmeier: I love Mika. She’s wonderful. It’s funny, when Angela and I look at repertoire, we often look at those two to get inspired. What are they playing? What can we play? And you know, honestly, I would love to say that we had this grand vision of the marimba and clarinet being the perfect pair, but actually, we’re just very good friends.

I think, artistically, when we rehearse, it’s like having a conversation. We’ve pushed the duo forward even though our lives have kind of diverged into these other places — Angela is New York City-based, and I’m now based here — so when we get together, it is intense, and the rehearsal periods are short, so we have to really pack it in.

I think it’s really powerful for us to share what we are able to do together because we have this really deep connection to one another. Luckily, the clarinet and marimba do sound really nice together. I think there is this warmth, this connection, and how the wood of the clarinet vibrates and how the very thin bars of a marimba vibrate. I think there’s just this really beautiful blend that happens.

The name Clone Duo comes because ten years ago, when I was living overseas in Sweden, we were, at the time Skyping — back in the day — and a friend was listening to our conversation because we were discussing what we could do together, what visions we had artistically. When we got off the phone, my colleague said, “I could not tell when you were talking, and when she was talking. You are practically clones.”

And we are — we both have Midwestern roots and have had this drive and a passion for exploring our musical pathways and have been really, really driven to do that. I think that we have a lot of similar energy, and I’m so grateful to Celebrity Series for presenting us because I think it’s a very special project to us personally, and I think that’s shared very vulnerably on stage, and audiences usually react really well to it.

Rath: Before we let you go, I want to ask you what you’re working on right now. What’s your next big thing? Could you give us a preview?

Finkelmeier: Gosh, yes! I’m very honored to share that I am a recent recipient of a Knight Foundation grant. This grant cycle for them is [about] supporting technology-driven performance works. I’m working with the South Florida Center for Percussive Arts to create an evening-length work for percussion, quartet and community drumming groups.

We’ll also be using this motion capture technology that I have been developing, along with Magic Studios in South Florida as well. We’re going to, next year, present this massive outdoor performing piece, integrating technology and community involvement.

And, of course, with all of my work, I hope to bring it back up to Boston, too. That will be my next big project that I’ll be developing.