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.
The New Yorker: Goings On About Town
April 19, 2019, by Third Coast Percussion
April 11, 2019 Steve Smith Composer Portrait: David T. Little Widely admired as an opera composer, David T. Little applies his potent theatrical instincts to his instrumental works. This Miller Theatre “Composer Portrait” features two of his most provocative pieces. “Haunt of Last Nightfall,” inspired by a 1981 military massacre in El Salvador, is performed by Third Coast Percussion, the Chicago quartet that commissioned it. The American Contemporary Music Ensemble handles “AGENCY,” a string quartet encoded with subliminal references to global intelligence organizations and Australian Aboriginal lore. See the full classical music listing here.
7 Classical Music Concerts to See in NYC This Weekend
, by Third Coast Percussion
April 11, 2019 by David Allen Composer Portrait: David T. Little David T. Little at Miller Theater (April 18, 8 p.m.). Little is perhaps best and deservedly known for his operas, including “Dog Days” and “JFK,” so this composer portrait is a welcome opportunity to hear some of his instrumental music. Not that the music to be played here sets aside the political approach that he has taken in so much of his work. “Haunt of Last Nightfall,” for percussion quartet and electronics, takes its story from the 1981 El Mozote massacre in El Salvador by soldiers trained by the United States military; “AGENCY,” for string quartet and electronics, is a work about secrecy, itself written using ciphers. Third Coast Percussion and the American Contemporary Music Ensemble are on hand to perform. See the full listing here.
Third Coast Percussion Lays Down a Virtuosic Set at Samueli
April 11, 2019, by Third Coast Percussion
April 9, 2019 by Timothy Mangan "The virtuosity on display is a wonder to see and hear." "...opens up new vistas of sound..." "...invariably aimed at getting us closer to the music itself." "...one of the most entertaining and energetic concerts this listener has heard..." Perhaps a concert of music for percussion was a tough sell. Or maybe it was that the percussionists in question were appearing on the Segerstrom Center’s solid gold Chamber Music series, normally devoted to music by people with names like Mozart, Brahms and Schubert. Maybe word hadn’t gotten out. For whatever reason, there were plenty of empty seats Friday night in Samueli Theater when Third Coast Percussion gave one of the most entertaining and energetic concerts this listener has heard in quite awhile. Make no mistake, the Chicago-based quartet — Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and David Skidmore, who all met when studying at…
Album review: Perpetulum
April 9, 2019, by Third Coast Percussion
April 4, 2019 by Kyle Land "...as inventive and beautiful as music comes." When you are one of the premiere modern classical percussionist ensembles and the rockstar of modern composition wants to collaborate, you don’t say no. Third Coast Percussion is based out of Chicago, and the quartet of Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore have been entertaining music lovers of all types for fifteen years now. They have won Grammys, performed with many legends of modern classical and jazz, and now have had Philip Glass, (arguably the most gifted modern composer), write his first piece for percussion ensemble for them. The three-part composition includes a cadenza and is bookended with a piece by English composer Gavin Bryars, which TCP also commissioned, and an electro-acoustic work by Skidmore, with pieces by Dillon and Martin rounding out the hour and thirty minute opus. Perpetulum is a masterclass of…
Album Review: Philip Glass Premiere from Third Coast Percussion
, by Third Coast Percussion
April 5, 2019 by Jason Victor Serinus "Optimism, excitement, and inventiveness rule." Philip Glass (b. 1937) may not quite be a household name in America, but he's surely as well-known as any living classical composer, and the repetitive minimalism that is the hallmark of his music has influenced everything from rock music to TV commercials. Still, after 5 decades of composing, it took a commission from Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion for Glass to write his first concerto for percussion ensemble, Perpetulum—"What took them so long to ask me?" Glass has said about the commission. TCP has just released the premiere recording of the 21:23 minute concerto on their new 2-CD set, Perpetulum (OM 0132), from Glass's own label, Orange Mountain Music. The recording, which was engineered in 24/96, is also available as a download with those specifications. Glass initially studied flute as a young student, but he also played in…
KDFC: The Democratic Playing of Third Coast Percussion…
April 4, 2019, by Third Coast Percussion
April 2, 2019 by Jeffrey Freymann TCP ensemble member and Executive Director David Skidmore was interviewed by KDFC's Jeffrey Freymann, leading up to the ensemble's performance at San Francisco's Herbst Theater on April 3. Read below for some text from the interview, and click here to listen! Being a member of this sort of chamber group has different challenges than some of the other, more conventional groupings. “Percussion ensembles are rare because there’s a great deal of infrastructure that needs to exist for a percussion ensemble to perform and rehearse, and tour,” Skidmore says. “We play different instruments on almost every piece, so there’s plenty of variety for everyone… Unlike a string quartet, where at least traditionally, like the first violin maybe has a lead part… In percussion ensemble music, that’s not the case. Each player might be completely equal, but just playing on different instruments.” None of them specializes…
Review: New Philip Glass commission presents a rhythmic perspective
, by Third Coast Percussion
April 4, 2019 by Joshua Kosman The members of the dynamic young quartet Third Coast Percussion have, by their own account, a small problem as classically trained performers. None of the old masters — not Mozart, not Brahms, hell not even Stravinsky — left any music for percussion ensemble. So the group members have taken it upon themselves to replenish the repertoire, both through their own compositions and by commissioning music from living composers they admire. The latest fruit of these efforts — a buoyant, enjoyable and somewhat distracted new opus by Philip Glass — was the centerpiece of the group’s ingratiating recital on Wednesday, April 3, in Herbst Theatre. Glass’ “Perpetulum” was co-commissioned by San Francisco Performances, the concert’s presenter, and it’s a spirited compilation of various Glassian tropes channeled through this new and unexplored medium. (The piece is also the title track on Third Coast’s expansive new recording.)…
“Torched and Wrecked” on All Songs Considered from NPR Music
, by Third Coast Percussion
April 2, 2019 We are thrilled to be included on the "All Songs Considered" podcast from NPR Music!" This episode features "Torched and Wrecked", the first track from our new album, Perpetulum (available now!). The piece, "Torched and Wrecked" by ensemble member David Skidmore closes out the episode which also includes tracks by Julia Shapiro, Cautious Clay, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Henryk Gorecki, Beth Gibbons, and The Gloaming. Check out the full episode: https://n.pr/2HRCL9G And check out the album! https://bit.ly/2WlqmOu
Philip Glass celebration at Notre Dame includes the composer performing and a new work for percussion ensemble
, by Third Coast Percussion
March 28, 2019 by Jack Walton Until now, the prolific Philip Glass has never composed a work scored strictly for percussion. It’s probably good that he waited. His immediate predecessors did not have anything like the resources that exist today from a performance standpoint. When John Cage introduced his pioneering works for percussion ensemble in the 1930s, there were no expert musicians available to play the pieces. Cage had to settle for an ensemble of “percussionists” who were actually just kindly helpers from his circle of friends. In some cases, the performers were not even musicians. The works had to be primitively simple or there was no way for them to be played at all. Fortunately, groups of the high caliber of Third Coast Percussion exist today. On Saturday at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, Third Coast Percussion performs “Perpetulum,” a commissioned piece that Glass…
Album review: Third Coast Percussion unveils a first from Philip Glass
March 27, 2019, by Third Coast Percussion
March 27, 2019 by Joshua Kosman It took until he was past 80, with many decades’ worth of rhythmic, intricately patterned music under his belt, for Philip Glass to write a piece for percussion ensemble. Now he’s done it, and the result – a spangly, delightful concoction called “Perpetulum” – is the centerpiece of an alluring two-disc release by Third Coast Percussion, for which it was written. (The group will perform this and other works in Herbst Theatre on Wednesday, April 3.) Naturally, “Perpetulum” bears many of the familiar Glassian harmonic and formal thumbprints, but there’s also a spirit of pop playfulness in the writing that sounds strikingly new. Along with “Perpetulum” (and an undercooked opus by Gavin Bryars) come sharp-edged and inventive compositions by three of the group’s four members, including Peter Martin’s buoyant “Bend” and Robert Dillon’s wittily authoritarian “Ordering-Instincts.” Perhaps most riveting of all is “Aliens With…
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