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.
Sonorous Earth with The Eugene Symphony
April 17, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
We are thrilled to be performing Augusta Read Thomas's Sonorous Earth with co-commissioner The Eugene Symphony on Thursday, April 19. Thanks to KLCC's Brian Bull for profiling the concert, and for taking the time to sit down with Augusta Read Thomas to discuss the concerto, her lifelong love of bells, and the process of compiling all 300 pieces of resonant metal that are used in this amazing work. Click here to listen to the interview.
Album Review: Paddle to the Sea
February 28, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
February 14, 2018 by Jarrett Hoffman "...deep and wide-ranging, impressive and highly creative." Third Coast Percussion went bold with their latest project, a sprawling marine ecosystem of an album titled Paddle to the Sea. The name comes from a 1966 film about a wooden toy boat floating its way from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean. After the half-hour film was brought to the group’s attention, they group-composed a new score to it, here receiving its world-premiere recording. But an ecosystem takes more than just one beautiful story. Third Coast surrounds the title work with the vastly differing colors of three aquatic creatures — water-themed works that inspired the film score’s composition. As a whole, the result from this Grammy-winning quartet out of Chicago is deep and wide-ranging, impressive and highly creative. The title work, spanning ten tracks, marks the little boat’s journey with a fascinating assortment of sounds and moods. “Open Water”…
Album review: Paddle to the Sea
April 4, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
April 3, 2018 by David Hurwitz "...astonishing precision and sensitivity..." "...the performances are amazing...the engineering is perfect..." Today’s percussionists are amazing virtuosos, and the members of Third Coast Percussion play with astonishing precision and sensitivity throughout this intelligently planned recital built around the theme of “water” in many of its forms. There are two major works, the most important of which is Jacob Druckman’s amazing marimba solo “Reflections on the Nature of Water.” Its six movements are broken into pairs and spread throughout the disc. As the idiom is strongly atonal, it makes a refreshing contrast to the mellow harmonic syntax of the remaining pieces. The other major work is Third Coast Percussion’s original film score Paddle to the Sea. The movements have evocative titles, some presumably taken from the images to which they correspond: "The Lighthouse and the Cabin," "Open Water," "Niagara," "The Locks," etc. Other bits are simply…
100 metronomes can’t be wrong, but Cerrone premiere impresses most in Ligeti program
March 1, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
February 17, 2018 by Lawrence A. Johnson The penultimate program of the György Ligeti festival in this season’s University of Chicago Presents series took place Friday night at the Logan Center. Yet the most substantive music of the evening, curated by Third Coast Percussion, was a work by a young American composer. One of Ligeti’s most endearing qualities is his antic sense of humor. The three Ligeti works featured on the first half richly represented the satirical, anti-establishment side of the Hungarian composer, even if none of the music showed Ligeti at his most essential. The evening began with a rare performance of a work more talked about than presented, Ligeti’s infamous Poème symphonique (1962). Neither symphonic nor poetic, this bit of theater art for 100 metronomes shows Ligeti at his most Cageian. Sixteen UC students walked out single file–in keeping with the mock-serious ceremony of the work–and seated themselves…
Third Coast Percussion at Cleveland Museum of Art
, by Third Coast Percussion
February 14, 2018 by Nicholas Stevens Few composers in the classical tradition have successfully transformed stories for children into engrossing all-ages artworks. In a concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art last week, Third Coast Percussion — the Chicago-based quartet of Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore — made a strong case for their new work, Paddle to the Sea. Third Coast’s concert on Sunday afternoon, February 11 represented a sort of homecoming for the piece, which the Museum helped commission. It was Thomas Welsh, CMA’s Director of Performing Arts, who first suggested that the quartet look at the 1941 children’s book Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling and Bill Mason’s 1966 short film based on the book. For their multimedia event, Third Coast alternates performances of pieces by Philip Glass, Jacob Druckman, and the mbira masters of the Shona people with portions of the film, screened along with the quartet’s original music.…
Classical New Release: Paddle to the Sea
, by Third Coast Percussion
February 6, 2018 by Amanda Sewell Grammy-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion has a new album of water-inspired music called Paddle to the Sea.The centerpiece of the album is the world premiere of "Paddle to the Sea," an original Third Coast Percussion ensemble composition. The group created the music as a live soundtrack to accompany the 1966 short film that was adapted from a children's book. The album also includes water-inspired music by Philip Glass, Jacob Druckman and Musekiwa Chingodza. Click here to view the trailer for this new album.
Paddle to the Sea in National Sawdust
, by Third Coast Percussion
February 9, 2018 by Steve Smith Paddle to the Sea was featured in National Sawdust's On the Record, a weekly listing of highlighted new-music releases. Find the whole listing here.
Album Review: Paddle to the Sea
, by Third Coast Percussion
February 18, 2018 by Lisa Flynn Third Coast Percussion’s Paddle to the Sea transports listeners into a realm of imaginative sounds and world-premiere recordings evoking the aquatic world. Anchoring the album is the ensemble’s original collaborative composition Paddle to the Sea. The talented foursome conceived it as a live soundtrack to the 1966 film of the same name, based on a classic children’s story. Third Coast found a wellspring of ideas in the other works they’ve included on the album. Jacob Druckman’s Reflections on the Nature of Water revels in textures and timbres unique to the marimba. The ensemble plays its own arrangement of selections from Philip Glass’s 12 Pieces for Ballet — also drawing inspiration from Brazilian group Uakti’s multi-instrumental version, titled Aguas da Amazonia.
Paddle to the Sea on Billboard Top 25 Classical Chart
, by Third Coast Percussion
We were thrilled to be listed on Billboard's Top 25 Classical Albums chart for the week of February 24, 2018! Paddle to the Sea made its Billboard debut at #16, alongside such greats as Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, and Edgar Meyer. See the full list here.
Christopher Cerrone presents World Premiere with Third Coast Percussion at Miller Theatre, 3/29
February 9, 2018, by Third Coast Percussion
Third Coast Percussion is thrilled to work once again with Pulitzer Prize finalist Christopher Cerrone. We look forward to presenting his Portrait Concert in March at the Miller Theatre at Columbia University. February 1, 2018 Broadway World Music Brooklyn-based composer Christopher Cerrone - winner of a 2015 Rome Prize and a 2014 Pulitzer Prize finalist for his opera Invisible Cities - greets 2018 with a pair of important premieres. A Natural History of Vacant Lots, written for Grammy-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion, receives its world premiere on Thursday, March 29 (8 pm) in a Cerrone Portrait Concert played by Third Coast at Columbia University's Miller Theatre. Taking its title from a book on urban ecology, A Natural History of Vacant Lots incorporates electronic sound and spatial/environmental elements: the four players are situated widely throughout the hall, and perform in near-darkness. Rounding out the Portrait program are Goldbeater's Skin with mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, setting texts…
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