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.
Seán Curran Company and Third Coast Percussion at UAB’s Alys Stephens Center Oct. 5
September 13, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
September 13, 2018 by Shannon Thomason Seán Curran Company will opens its 20th anniversary season with its debut performance with Third Coast Percussion at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. For the performance, Curran and nine exceptional dancers look back at the company’s history, reimagining its hallmark “Abstract Concrete” from 2000, and look forward, continuing their investigation into human connections, relationships and universal truths with the world premiere of a piece commissioned by the Alys Stephens Center, “Everywhere All the Time.” The program includes live music by Grammy Award-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion, who performed at the ASC in March 2018. An “Inside the Arts” pre-performance talk is at 7 p.m. The performance is at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5. Tickets are $25, with $10 student tickets. Call 205-975-2787 or click here for tickets. Percussion music has permeated Curran’s spirited, postmodern work. Its inherent rhythm serves as the beating heart of the robust “Abstract Concrete.” First performed…
Three Cheers for Third Coast Percussion
August 23, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
August 22, 2018 by Katie Griffiths One of the highlights of our 2018-19 season is a collaboration with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, a project that we have been working to create for years now. This fantastic show will feature choreography by Emma Portner and Movement Art Is co-founders Jon Boogz and Lil Buck, as well as original music by Devonté Hynes (aka Blood Orange). We are looking forward to performing it in Chicago on September 27, 29, and 30, and across the country during the rest of the season. Katie Griffiths from Hubbard Street recently interviewed David about the project. Read the full interview below, or on Hubbard's blog here. Hubbard Street's 40th Anniversary Season is coming to a close, but the excitement continues to build for Season 41. To start with a bang, the Fall Series brings together the viral Emma Portner; Jon Boogz and Lil Buck, co-founders of Movement…
Album Review: Paddle to the Sea
July 3, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
June 30, 2018 by Graham Rickson "This is an enormously enjoyable album...the best percussion disc I've heard in ages." Musical material which might in some circumstances seem naïve or simplistic rarely does so when scored for percussion. Take a work like Reich’s Music for Pieces of Wood - who'd have imagined that the thwacking of different sized sticks could sound so cool? Chicago’s Third Coast Percussion have already recorded an impressive Reich CD, but this new one is based around something different. Paddle to the Sea is a suite composed collaboratively by the group's players, designed to accompany showings of a 1966 film adaptation of an iconic children's book about a toy canoe travelling from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. It's a substantial, 33 minute work, a parade of enchanting watery vignettes. The pace ebbs and flows to match the watercourses traversed by the canoe, the mood veering between serenity and agitation.…
An Array of Percussion
June 27, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
"...[an] acutely sensitive approach to sound..." June 25, 2018 by Pwyll ap Siôn Gone are the days when percussion players would spend their time counting empty bars at the back of the orchestra. The percussion section now plays an integral part in any symphony orchestra's sonic armoury. Yet the most exciting work continues to take place away from the conductor's podium through percussion groups and ensembles. These highly flexible and adaptable mini-multi-orchestras form a natural tributary for today's many stylistic cross-currents. Western, non-Western, classical, folk, jazz, avant-garde or pop -- such diverse influences converge and connect in these more flexible contexts, resulting in inventive cross-fertilisations and creative collaborations. Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion epitomise this new dynamic new breed. Following on from their award-winning disc of music by Steve Reich (Cedille, 6/16), Paddle to the Sea showcases the percussion quartet's talents as composers and performers. The central work is the group's evocative…
Philip Glass, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon on tap for 2018-19 Liquid Music Series
, by Third Coast Percussion
June 26, 2018 by Christy DeSmith Glass will write a piece for Chicago's Third Coast Percussion, while Gordon will perform a "very intimate" work at the American Swedish Institute. Known for bridging the worlds of indie rock, jazz and classical, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music Series has grown in breadth and ambition over six years. With its 2018-19 season, announced Tuesday, Liquid Music offers more cross-genre pollinating with added star power, a lot more dance and a personal best of six world premieres. The season’s biggest booking involves composer Philip Glass, celebrated for his minimalist operas, symphonies and film scores. Liquid Music partnered with a handful of arts groups and individuals to commission a new Glass piece for Chicago’s Third Coast Percussion. “It’s Philip’s first work for percussion ensemble,” noted Liquid Music curator Kate Nordstrum. Third Coast also will play fresh music by Devonté Hynes, aka Blood Orange,…
Eight hands make light work for Third Coast Percussion
May 9, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
May 9, 2018 by Peter Margasak "[Third Coast Percussion's] collaborative spirit has already made them one of the best percussion ensembles in the country—and their upcoming projects could make them the biggest." "Third Coast Percussion are outstanding players, and an incredibly tight unit." "...unendingly buoyant personality—rigorous but friendly, never dumbing anything down.” Many thanks to Peter Margasak of the Chicago Reader for this wonderful artist profile, concert preview, and in-depth look at many years of Third Coast's creative and collaborative works. Read an excerpt below, or click here to read the full feature. Last year Chicago quartet Third Coast Percussion won their first Grammy: Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, for a 2016 album of music by minimalist icon Steve Reich. Reich’s distinctively pulsing music has been part of Third Coast’s repertoire since the ensemble’s founding in 2005, and recently they’ve been invited to perform his work by prestigious institutions such as Columbia University…
Voyage Chicago: Interview with David Skidmore
May 15, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
May 15, 2018 by Roger Brown Roger Brown from Voyage Chicago recently sat down with David to talk about Third Coast's history and current work. Read the full interview below. Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours? After winning their first Grammy in 2017 for an album of music by iconic modern composer Steve Reich, Third Coast Percussion has expanded the scope of their classically-trained quartet to include original work by the ensemble. With the release of their latest album, Paddle to the Sea, Third Coast’s compositions feature prominently, along with the ensemble’s take on music by composers Philip Glass and Jacob Druckman. Traditional Shona music from Zimbabwe on the mbira (a hand-held thumb piano with an incredibly rich sound) rounds out the album. Please tell us about your art. Third Coast Percussion’s newest show (and album) Paddle to the Sea is a multimedia…
Concert Preview: Chicago Premiere of Paddle to the Sea on Sunday Evening
May 9, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
May 8, 2018 by Louis Harris Chicago’s Grammy Award winning Third Coast Percussion will be offering a water-themed program that includes the Chicago premiere of their new piece, Paddle to the Sea at Thalia Hall on May 13, 7:30 pm. The four members worked together to compose the piece to be a live soundtrack of the 1966 film of the same name, which was adapted from a children’s book. To perform the piece, the ensemble will be making noise from a large and interesting array of objects. These include traditional percussive instruments, such as drums, bells, synthesizer, and a marimba, as well as unusual objects, such ceramic floor tiles and a bowl filled with water and a submerged microphone. Other water themed works on the program include Jacob Druckman’s Reflections on the Nature of Water for solo marimba. Third Coast Percussion will also be performing its own arrangement of Philip Glass’s 12 Pieces for Ballet, which was…
Album review: Paddle to the Sea
May 2, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
May 1, 2018 "As usual, the performance is perfection personified." As a child growing up in Michigan, I remember reading Paddle to the Sea in fourth grade. It is a children’s book written in 1941 by Holling C. Holling, and it tells the story of a toy canoe and its passenger that travels through the Great Lakes. Third Coast Percussion has assembled a collection of water-inspired music composed by themselves and by Philip Glass (movements from Aguas de Amazonia) and Jacob Druckman (Reflections on the Nature of Water). A traditional song, “Chigwaya,” was arranged by Third Coast’s mentor, Musekiwa Chingodza. This album is my favorite of Third Coast’s so far. Paddle to the Sea was composed by Third Coast as a film score to be performed with the 1966 film adaptation of the book. The music uses ceramic tiles, pitched desk bells, marimba, and other instruments to create a nostalgic…
Radiant Pulses: Third Coast Percussion and beyond
April 26, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
April 20, 2018 During our visit to Vancouver, David sat down with Vancouver New Music's Giorgio Magnanensi to talk about the genesis of Augusta Read Thomas's Resounding Earth, collaborating with Augusta and with other composers, and more. Click here to listen to the interview and to a fantastic playlist of percussion music curated by VNM's Heather McDermid.
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