From concert and album reviews to feature articles, Third Coast Percussion is in the news.
We are fortunate to have garnered critical acclaim and recognition for so many of our performances and projects. See for yourself what the buzz is all about by reading what the press has to say! Browse reviews, articles, and much more below.
Review and Preview: Third Coast Percussion to Continue Live Broadcasts on Saturday
April 6, 2020, by Louis Harris
Sidelined by COVID-19 concert cancellations, Third Coast Percussion took their vibraphones and marimbas into their audience’s living rooms last Friday night with a live broadcast concert over YouTube. They will be presenting a second live concert this Saturday evening in conjunction with University of Chicago Presents, the 92nd St. Y in New York, and the Chamber Music Society of Detroit. Not willing to be completely shut down by the pandemic, TCP are continuing live performances, but at a safe distance from their audience, if not necessarily from each other. To pull this off, they converted their practice space into a sound stage, with well-placed microphones and camera angles. Last week’s excellent concert included Steve Reich’s Mallet Quartet from TCP’s Grammy-Award-winning album of that composer’s work. It also included Death Wish by Gemma Peacocke and Aliens with Extraordinary Abilities by TCP’s own David Skidmore. With YouTube’s streaming and chat capabilities, the broadcast felt more like a happening than a concert. The…
Assads, Third Coast Percussion bring “Archetypes” to life
January 28, 2020, by Aaron Keebaugh
According to Carl Jung, stories, myths, and legends from around the globe revolve around common characters by which individuals can measure their own personalities and identities. That is the focus of “Archetypes,” a new musical program devised by guitarist Sérgio Assad, his daughter the pianist and vocalist Clarice Assad, and the ensemble Third Coast Percussion. Twelve short, exploratory works spanning the intricacies of classical chamber music and the drive of Latin jazz, the program had its Boston and Celebrity Series premieres on Saturday night at Jordan Hall. As written by the Assads and the Third Coast quartet, each piece cast a vivid impression of its respective theme. A composition depicting a hero took on a grand sweep, while the zesty rhythms of another piece brought to mind the cavalier persona of the classic rebel. Music contains archetypes of its own, and these works embodied concepts of humanity that exist in all…
Third Coast Percussion talk career, Grammy nomination
January 17, 2020, by Wilson Chapman
When Third Coast Percussion receives a Grammy nomination, the first person Peter Martin (Bienen Masters ‘04, Doctorate ‘11) always hears from is his little sister. “She’s kind of like my number one fan,” he said laughing. “She’s always excited for the Grammys, and she’s always the first person to notify me. She sits on her computer just waiting for the nominations. So that’s always great to hear from her.” Third Coast Percussion is a musical ensemble based in Chicago. Composed of four Northwestern alumni, the group focuses on classical percussion music, especially music commissioned for the group or written by the members. Third Coast won a Grammy in 2017 for its recording of the work of American composer Steve Reich. This year, they were nominated again for their album “Perpetulum,” featuring the work of Philip Glass and Gavin Bryars, as well as original work composed by the members of the…
TCP Named One of “20 for 20” Artists to Watch by WQXR!
January 6, 2020, by WQXR
What a thrill it is to begin this special relationship with WQXR and its listeners, and to be included among a cohort of such exceptional musicians. We look forward to a fun year of music-making with all these wonderful artists.
Grammy nominations honor faculty and alumni
January 2, 2020, by Northwestern University
NIU School of Music faculty, staff, alumni and students nominated for Grammy Awards
, by NIU Today
Dan Nichols, Head of Recording Services in the School of Music is nominated in three categories, where he is joined by a current student, an alumna and faculty.
Best classical albums of 2019: World premieres, historic revivals and enticingly eclectic music
, by Howard Reich
"Surely anyone who attended last year's world premiere of Philip Glass' "Perpetulum," commissioned and performed by Third Coast Percussion, felt the joy and rhythmic exuberance of this music."
From Third Coast, Percussion Aplenty With Glass In Mix
October 28, 2019, by Richard S. Ginell
The Glass piece is called Perpetulum, and it operates unlike any other Glass piece that I can think of. Cast in four continuous sections, it opens not with typical Glass patterns and arpeggios, but with a series of percussion grooves closer in feel to Varèse’s Ionisation than anything by this composer. Two of the succeeding sections are signaled by slow majestic rolls of the tam-tam, another is labeled as a “cadenza” that contain fresh arpeggios that don’t seem to be reprocessed from Glass’ database. The last part starts as a Latinized workout that eventually settles into the most conventional (relatively speaking) Glass progression of the piece. While Glass has been so prolific that it’s hard to keep up to date with everything he has done lately, this is easily one of the most enjoyable, inventive, and least recycled things he’s done in the last decade at least. "Percussion fans and…
Another compelling version of Dev Hynes
October 22, 2019, by Diana Yassin
The alias Blood Orange is etched in Dev Hynes’s discography. He does embrace other noms de plume, though, and assigns each to a signature style. But “Lightspeed Champion,” the spacy, genre-defying brand that carved a delicate niche in the R&B and soul game, never gained the traction that Blood Orange has. The latter’s dreamy, sometimes melancholic synth-pop has given Hynes the recognition he deserves from artists Empress Of, Carly Rae Jepsen and A$AP Rocky. And since the release of Negro Swan last fall, Hynes has been on a creative streak, releasing EP Angel’s Pulse this summer and Fields last Friday. "a stunning mashup between forces" Fields is a significant departure from any work previously released. A classical music album, it’s published under Hynes’s official name alongside Third Coast Percussion. Hynes composed all the music in a digital audio workstation and sent the recordings and sheet music to the members of Third Coast Percussion to arrange and orchestrate…
Blood Orange & Third Coast Percussion – ‘Fields’ review: luxurious ambient sounds
October 10, 2019, by Carl Anka
No genre has proven too obscure for the Ilford-born musician, and if his name is found in an album’s liner notes, there’s sure to be music of category-defying quality inside. Which makes this new release from the Grammy Award-winning, Chicago-based percussion quartet group Third Coast Percussion – for which Dev Hynes composed all the music – so intriguing. "Alt-pop polymath Dev Hynes has teamed up with Third Coast Percussion to create a beguiling record." “We’ve always felt that the future of classical music depends on deepening the collaborative process and removing the strict barriers between composers and performers,” Third Coast Percussion have written in the liner notes to the album, and while Hynes’ influences can be felt on ‘Fields’, this is an album best listened to on its own merits "There's an element of tidal fury to Fields..." Comprised of 13 compositions, the first 11 of which form a suite called…
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