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: With Third Coast Percussion
July 26, 2017, by Third Coast Percussion
May 25, 2017 by John Shaefer Members of Chicago-based quartet Third Coast Percussion, Robert Dillon and David Skidmore, present an exclusive preview of a rehearsal recording of major piece for percussion by Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy. It’s a large work for tuned drums, inspired by the traditional frame drum, the bodhran, and based on the overtone series. Players get to bend the pitches and venture into the world of microtonal music. Listen to these tom tom drums with surgical tubes attached for a player to exhale and alter the pitch of the drum by expanding the column of air inside in Dennehy’s piece, “Surface Tension.” Also, hear Reich’s “Nagoya Marimbas” along with “Mallet Quartet,” from their brand new recording of music by Steve Reich. A fun aside: Third Coast Percussion has created a mobile app for users to interact with Steve Reich. Look for the app “Third Coast Percussion, the…
One With Nature: Musical piece encompasses Artosphere values
July 22, 2017, by Third Coast Percussion
May 19, 2017 by Jocelyn Murphy What do you get when you bring together just shy of 100 musicians, spread them around an outdoor venue and give them a piece of music that celebrates and blends with the nature around it? “Inuksuit” swells to a very chaotic, very climactic middle section, and then recedes back into the soundscape of the garden, shares Sean Connors with Third Coast Percussion. The Grammy-winning percussion ensemble will host the striking musical piece at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks tonight. “And one of the cool things that happens, at least in every performance I’ve been a part of, is the piece ends with some flutes and glockenspiels emulating bird calls, and we’ve always experienced birds singing back to us, so the last sound you hear are living, real wild birds.” Click here to read the original article.
EXCELcast: Third Coast Percussion on Investing in your Hidden Strengths
July 26, 2017, by Third Coast Percussion
May 9, 2017 Interview by Jonathan Kuuskoski Grammy-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion shares their experience in growing as an independent, artist-run group, and their path to success through investing in their members' personal strengths! Click here to view the full interview.
Interconnectedness: An Interview with Third Coast Percussion
, by Third Coast Percussion
April 25, 2017 by Sumner Coy Interview with Katy Henriksen Third Coast Percussion's expansive take on Steve Reich earned them a Grammy this year, and the group has forged a reputation for opening up to the audience in novel ways--such as the use of smartphone apps to offer intimate participation and awareness of the process. "I think most people are curious, creative people, and if you appeal to people's curious nature, that's a point of connection," explains Third Coast member Sean Connors to Of Note's Katy Henriksen. (more…)
Preview: Music of Augusta Read Thomas to be Celebrated This Saturday Night
, by Third Coast Percussion
April 25, 2017 by Louis Harris Coming on the heels of Augusta Read Thomas’ recent appointment to head the new Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition, the Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago will be hosting a concert of her music this Saturday evening. This event brings together the Spektral Quartet and Third Coast Percussion, two Chicago quartets who were nominated for this year’s Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, a prize that Third Coast won for its recording of music by Steve Reich. (more…)
Classical Classroom: Third Coast Percussion Plays At 1.21 Gigawatts
, by Third Coast Percussion
April 17, 2017 Interview by Dacia Clay Sean Connors of Grammy-winning Third Coast Percussion talks about what being in a percussion-only ensemble is all about. Wait. A percussion-only ensemble? Is that, like, a fancy drum circle? Sean Connors of the Grammy-winning percussion quartet Third Coast Percussion explains that this is not too far off. But the operative word is “fancy.” As Connors describes it, percussion ensembles are the mad scientists of the music world. Any object in the world is a potential instrument. And when they’ve run out of objects, they invent more. (Fun fact: Third Coast sometimes works with actual scientists at the University of Notre Dame where they are ensemble in residence.) Learn all about the crazy world of percussion ensembles and hear some amazing music in this show. Click here to listen to the full interview.
LUCERNE FESTIVAL ALUMNI Worldwide: Third Coast Percussion from Chicago
, by Third Coast Percussion
April 12, 2017 Interview by Jeffrey Young Third Coast Percussion is a percussion quartet based in Chicago that tours nationally and internationally, commissions new works, and just won a GRAMMY for their album Third Coast Percussion | Steve Reich. Third Coast members David Skidmore (participant in the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY in 2005-08) and Robert Dillon (2003-05, 2007-08) spoke to Jeffrey Young about winning a GRAMMY, their time in Lucerne, and more. Jeffrey Young: How did your time in Lucerne impact you and your young ensemble? David Skidmore: The experiences I had at Lucerne were hugely important to my own musicianship and my love of new music, enabling me to work with world class composers and perform new music at a really high level. I went to Lucerne for the first time in 2005 and that was exactly the year Third Coast started. I think the overlap was important and fortuitous because of how…
Grammy winner Third Coast Percussion to play free show at USC
, by Third Coast Percussion
March 22, 2017 by Erin Shaw The music of Third Coast Percussion is so much more than drums. In a show, the quartet might play four marimbas simultaneously one minute and tap Japanese singing bowls the next. Anything can be an instrument, and TCP’s dedication to exploring new sounds make the group a fitting bookend to the University of South Carolina’s Southern Exposure New Music Series. The Chicago-based group is fresh off a Grammy win for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, the first percussion ensemble to win a Grammy in that category. (more…)
Interview: Third Coast Percussion Headlines 2017 {Re}HAPPENING
, by Third Coast Percussion
March 2017 by Ali McGheeJust last month, the four members of Chicago's Third Coast Percussion—David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and Sean Connors—won the first Grammy ever awarded in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance to a percussion ensemble. Awarded for their album Third Coast Percussion | Steve Reich (2016, Cedille Records), the Grammy is groundbreaking for the world of avant-garde music, but it's also just one among many accomplishments Third Coast can now list. This weekend, Third Coast will add another flower to their cap: they'll be playing at Saturday's {Re}HAPPENING, which takes places at Lake Eden in Black Mountain from 3-10 p.m. The {Re}HAPPENING will be a kind of homecoming for the group, which continues to pull inspiration from people associated with the college, particularly John Cage and Lou Harrison. They trace this legacy of influence through Steve Reich and on to themselves. Their Grammy-winning album, released the…
REVIEW: Music for 18 Musicians
, by Third Coast Percussion
March 19, 2017 by Karalyn Schubring Last night, Hill Auditorium throbbed with the pulsing patterns, reverberating rhythms, and crunchy chords of the one and only Steve Reich. The seats were packed with fans (and critics) of the Pulitzer-Prize winning composer for the UMS premieres of Reich’s music by Chicago-based ensembles Eighth Blackbird and Third Coast Percussion, in celebration of the composer’s eightieth birth year. (more…)
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