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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.
New Sounds: Third Coast Percussion Plays New Work by Zakir Hussain, In-Studio
March 3, 2025, by John Schaefer
Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy-winning classical quartet based in Chicago. They’re all composers themselves, but they’ve also worked with a wide variety of other composers, including Philip Glass and the late great tabla player Zakir Hussain. Their new EP, Murmurs In Time, features Zakir’s work of that name, and he was supposed to join Third Coast Percussion here today, but as you may know, he passed away in December. This Soundcheck studio premiere of the work features a disciple of Hussain’s, Salar Nader. We’ll also hear an excerpt from another work written for Third Coast Percussion, by Tigran Hamasyan, the Armenian jazz pianist and composer. Oh – and it’s in 23/8, for anyone counting along. (-John Schaefer) Set list: 1. Tigran Hamasyan – Sonata for Percussion, 3rd Mvmt. – “23 for TCP” 2. Zakir Hussain: Murmurs In Time – second mvmt.
48 Hills: 60 years in, Twyla Tharp’s legendary company still shone like a diamond
February 26, 2025, by Lou Fancher
Asked in a 48 Hills phone interview how her eponymous dance company has survived—and thrived—for an epochal amount of time, choreographer Twyla Tharp says, “There’s no way to continue working other than to continue working. It’s one foot after the next. It’s continuity. If you work for 60 years, you don’t set out saying ‘I’m going to work for 60 years.’ Ultimately, there needs to be curiosity about what can happen next.” The Twyla Tharp Diamond Jubilee Tour, which came to Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall February 7-9, had her streamlined company of 12 top-tier dancers powering through two West Coast premieres. Its program opened with Diabelli, a 52-minute ensemble work from 1998 grounded in and inspired by Beethoven’s 33 Diabelli Variations. A live performance by Russian-born pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev lent riveting virtuosity and exquisite nuance to a work showcasing Tharp’s devilishly difficult (and deceptively casual-looking) choreography. After intermission came…
Biberfan: Aguas Da Amazonia Review
February 24, 2025, by Biberfan
Third Coast Percussion has released this January a recording of the 1993-99 work by Philip Glass, envisioned as part of a ballet dance performance, entitled Aguas da Amazonia which like his work entitled Orion, used ethnic instruments. Third Coast had performed a few of these tracks earlier in an album focused on water, entitled Paddle to the Sea, which is among my favorite albums, for its vivid recording and first-class playing. In this album (35 minutes) they are joined by Constance Volk on flute. My original exposure to this work was via the recording made by Uakti. The order of pieces is different on this new album. More information about the piece is available via Wikipedia. This version doesn’t include the “bonus” track on the original, a recasting of Glass’ Metamorphosis. This piece because of its use of percussion, and non-traditional percussion, has a special flavor that’s missing from Glass’…
The Santa Fe New Mexican: The Twyla Zone
, by Emiliana Sandoval
There is nobody in the dance world like Twyla Tharp. She has defined, upended, and reimagined contemporary dance from the stage to the movie screen, and at 83 years old, she’s still creating new works. Her 60th anniversary tour stops at the Lensic Tuesday and Wednesday, February 25 and 26, to perform a work from her expansive archive as well as a new one to music by Philip Glass reimagined on custom percussion instruments. The evening will open with Diabelli, set to the Diabelli Variations for solo piano by Beethoven. The piece premiered in the U.S. in 1999 at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Ten of the 12 dancers in the company and concert pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev perform the almost hourlong work. Marzia Memoli is a longtime dancer with the Martha Graham company who has worked with Tharp for two and a half years. She says Diabelli is…
Textura: Aguas da Amazonia Review
, by Ron Schepper
Third Coast Percussion: Philip Glass: Aguas da AmazoniaRockwell Records With Aguas da Amazonia, the Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion ensemble presents a brilliant treatment of a Philip Glass work earlier recorded by the Brazilian outfit Uakti. The TCP arrangement is so inspired a re-imagining, however, that it feels like an entirely new creation, and, further to that, registers as a near-perfect rapprochement between composer and performer. Adding significantly to the group's rendition, the recording augments Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore with flutist and Ensemble Dal Niente member Constance Volk, whose terrific contributions amplify the work's haunting character. TCP crafted the new arrangement in collaboration with the Twyla Tharp Dance troupe, who, with the musicians, are presenting the work on a current tour celebrating TCP's twentieth-anniversary season (interestingly, the material performed by Uakti originated as a commissioned score for the Brazilian dance company Grupo Corpo in the ‘90s.)…
The Arts Desk: Aguas da Amazonia Review
, by Graham Rickson
Philip Glass: Aguas da Amazonia Third Coast Percussion, with Constance Volk (flute) (Third Coast Percussion) Philip Glass’s best music is ripe for rearranging and transcribing. Aguas da Amazonia, a 1990s dance piece composed for the Brazilian group Uakti who performed it on an array of custom-made instruments. Ten short movements celebrate different Brazilian rivers, and it’s since been performed in various guises. A recent orchestral version (recorded by Kristjan Järvi) sounds too diffuse for my tastes. This new version from Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion began life on the group’s Paddle to the Sea album, the remaining movements added and tweaked for performances with Twyla Tharp Dance. I’m a sucker for unusual instruments, this recording including a glass marimba, tuned PVC pipes and some almglocken. Flautist Constance Volk adds improvised solos and designed the album’s appealing sleeve art. Volk knows instinctively how much to add, my favourite intervention being her stinging entry in the fourth section,…
DownBeat Magazine: Collaborators & Friends of Zakir Hussain to Pay Tribute
, by DownBeat
A musical celebration of the life of tabla master Zakir Hussain will take place the evening of Feb. 28 in the sacred space of San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. Hussain passed on Dec. 15 at age 73. Organized by Zakir’s family, the concert will bring together more than two dozen of Zakir’s closest friends and musical collaborators including George Brooks, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, Eric Harland, Mickey Hart, Dave Holland, Marcus Gilmore, Anantha Krishnan, Jayanthi Kumaresh, Julian Lage, Charles Lloyd, Third Coast Percussion, Chris Potter, Ganesh Rajagopalan, Joshua Redman, David Sánchez, John Santos, Marvin Sewell, Steve Smith and others. All ticket proceeds will go to the Zakir Hussain Institute of Music. Zakir had a strong connection to Grace Cathedral. SFJAZZ presented a duo concert with Zakir and Joe Henderson in 1990 and, in 2001, Zakir performed in a duo with Charles Lloyd that led to the formation of the Sangam…
Night After Night: Everything, all at once.
, by Steve Smith
Anyone could see that composer and violinist Jessie Montgomery has seemed mighty busy just lately, but an email that showed up yesterday put everything into perspective. Here in New York City this week, she’s got a new piece on the high-profile recital Julia Bullock is presenting tonight at Lincoln Center and a Composer Spotlight program at The Juilliard School. (You’ll find details in The Night After Night Watch, below). Above and beyond those choice gigs, Montgomery has got a whole lot more coming up, here and beyond. Third Coast Percussion presents the New York premiere of Montgomery’s Lady Justice/Black Justice, The Song, along with works by Jlin, Tigran Hamasyan, and the late Zakir Hussain, in a Zankel Hall program on February 27. Montgomery also has a new piece on a big recital by 2025 Grammy winner Karen Slack – about whom, read Olivia Giovetti – at the 92nd Street Y…
SF Classical Voice: Celebrating the Bay Area Legacy of Legendary Tabla Player Zakir Hussain
, by Andrew Gilbert
As an arts journalist who’s often gotten the chance to interview musicians I deeply admire, I’ve had cause to reflect on the adage “Never meet your heroes. They’ll surely disappoint.” Some encounters have revealed the kernel of wisdom in this cautionary advice, but these have been the exception rather than the rule. More often, I come away impressed and elevated by my conversations with artists. And if any pedestaled figure left me feeling just that way, it was tabla legend Zakir Hussain, whose death in December 2024 at the age of 73 is still hard to comprehend. Since the mid-1990s, across more than a dozen interviews that I conducted with him and twice that many performances in an array of musical settings that I attended, he was the musician whose presence was the most profoundly enthralling. Far more than a cross-cultural musical explorer and eloquent champion of Hindustani and Carnatic…
The Michigan Daily: Twyla Tharp Dance and Third Coast Percussion’s contemporary artistry at the Detroit Opera House
, by Tara Wasik
On Feb. 1 and Feb. 2, Twyla Tharp Dance celebrated part of its 60th-anniversary Diamond Jubilee tour with Third Coast Percussion and pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev at the Detroit Opera House. The first half consisted of Tharp’s Olivier-nominated “Diabelli,” set to Beethoven’s Diabelli, variations with Rumyantsev at the helm. After intermission, a new arrangement of Phillip Glass’ Aguas da Amazonia was played by Third Coast Percussion and flutist Constance Volk to premiere SLACKTIDE, a work to commemorate Tharp’s six decades of choreographing. With an all-black background, dancers in tuxedo-printed leotards pranced onto stage, and the show began. With only a solo piano riffing it to Beethoven, the jazzy choreography spoke for itself. Theatricality was in full swing as the dancers mimicked actions of gossip and chatter. The experience mirrored watching “Downton Abbey” when the nosy characters would scheme and plot. The duos were best, with enviable partner-work that solidified the audiences’…
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