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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.
Third Coast Percussion fills hall with sound for Present Music
October 14, 2013, by Third Coast Percussion
October 13, 2013 by Elaine Schmidt Present Music opened Saturday evening's performance with a Vogel Hall stage filled with percussion curiosities. Featuring the Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion Ensemble, the program began with a completely fascinating performance of "Prayer — Star Dust Orbits" from Augusta Read Thomas's "Resounding Earth." The four Third Coast players created an enormous palette of sounds using standing bells (think Tibetan singing bowls). The resonant sounds of the standing bells created such vivid sounds that one could almost imagine seeing the sound waves moving through the air and bouncing off of one another. (more…)
Ritual Reaches: Julio Estrada at Miller Theatre
May 18, 2013, by Third Coast Percussion
May 17, 2013 by Corrina da Fonseca-Wollheim By contrast, in “eolo’oolin,” which received a riveting performance by Third Coast Percussion, led and directed by Steven Schick, instruments were liberated, as players paraded clusters of drums around the auditorium. Rhythms morphed into pitch and harmony, creating waves of sound that seemed to coalesce as form. ... (more…)
Ten classical events to warm a Chicago winter
January 11, 2014, by Third Coast Percussion
January 3, 2014 by John Von Rhein This is the winter of our content. "Our," as in Chicago classical music lovers. "Content," as in pleasure unbounded. The coming three months promise a rich array of performances that should appeal to just about every listener taste, whether the music is Baroque or contemporary, or whether the genre is chamber, symphonic or opera. Here are 10 major events taking place between now and the end of March you will want to circle on your calendar: Third Coast Percussion: One of the hottest new music groups around just keeps getting hotter. The centerpiece of a program of percussion works that marry the sounds of East and West will be former CSO resident composer Augusta Read Thomas' "Resounding Earth," for 125 bells, bowls and gongs from around the world, in its Chicago premiere. Feb. 21 at Logan Center for the Arts, University of…
Best of 2013: Top 10 Classical and New Music Albums of the Year
, by Third Coast Percussion
December 18, 2013 by Doyle Armbrust Third Coast Percussion Resounding Earth (New Focus Recordings) The decay of a bell ring can be mapped linearly, but the resonance of struck metal contains in it an element of eternity, floating away rather than being extinguished. Augusta Read Thomas’s new four-movement commission for Third Coast Percussion, Resounding Earth, embraces the spiritual connotations of these instruments with titles “Invocation,” “Prayer,” “Mantra” and “Reverie Carillon.” The exuberant trades and dueting of the opening “Invocation” lift skyward as though each bell were tethered to a helium balloon. The dynamic range on display throughout the album further magnifies the elysian quality of Thomas’s writing, and Third Coast’s performance is as synchronous as it is dramatically fertile. Toss out those Deepak Chopra guided meditations cassettes and find a true state of bliss (with 100% less synthesizer) in Resounding Earth. (more…)
Our Favorite Music of 2013
, by Third Coast Percussion
December 26, 2013 by Peter Margasak Classical music, with young artists taking matters into their own hands and forming bold, forward-looking groups rather than waiting for that elusive symphony job. Northwestern, DePaul, and the University of Chicago have been producing a dazzling number of fearless composers and hungry, open-minded musicians. The following five albums, presented in no particular order, feature some of the greatest talents. Third Coast Percussion, Resounding Earth (New Focus) Chicago's premier percussion ensemble tackles a commission from Augusta Read Thomas, formerly a Mead Composer-in-Residence with the CSO and now a professor at the University of Chicago. The four-movement Resounding Earth is built around the ringing, tinkling, and clanging of bells (though lots of other metal percussion turns up as well), with tones both terse and sustained. The CD comes with a DVD shot while the group recorded the work, which gives you a look at…
Classical Playlist: Martha Argerich, Third Coast Percussion, Garrick Ohlsson and More
November 28, 2013, by Third Coast Percussion
November 27, 2013 by The New York Times THOMAS: ‘Resounding Earth’ Third Coast Percussion (New Focus Records) In “Resounding Earth,” composed by Augusta Read Thomas for the Chicago quartet Third Coast Percussion, a constellation of singing, ringing and chiming bells, gongs and other metallic implements, representing cultures and traditions from around the world, serves to honor nine venerated 20th-century composers. Bliss out to Ms. Thomas’s transfixing shimmer on the immaculately recorded CD, and marvel at the ensemble performing the intricate work on the accompanying DVD. (Steve Smith) (more…)
ND’s Got the Beat
September 21, 2013, by Third Coast Percussion
September 12, 2013 by Jack Walton In June, Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion began a five-year term as artists-in-residence at the University of Notre Dame. The ensemble is already giving its new community an idea of the staggering amount of musical feats that a percussion group can achieve. (more…)
Two Concerts, Two Audiences
January 28, 2013, by Third Coast Percussion
January 18, 2013 by Rob Deemer It’s always a good thing to have a trip correspond with some good new music concerts, and my week-long adventure to northern Illinois this past week allowed me to take Ellen McSweeney’s advice and attend two concerts in Chicago. Both events–the Chicago Composers Orchestra concert at the Garfield Park Conservatory and the Third Coast Percussion concert at the University of Chicago–were very successful and demonstrated why new music concerts can be diverse in content, in venue, and in audience to great effect. (more…)
Top 20 Classical Albums of 2012
, by Third Coast Percussion
December 30, 2012 by Seth Colter Walls Our understanding of John Cage's value -- he was more than just "4'33" -- would be much poorer if not for Mode Records, which has invested in producing important albums of the composer's works for decades. Their latest project is a comprehensive survey of Cage's percussion pieces. The second effort in this series features Third Coast Percussion, and their virtuoso playing is as crisp as you'd expect. But more importantly, they've taken care to engineer these pieces properly in a studio: The grinding prepared-piano tones of "First Construction (in Metal)" have never sounded so fine. Read the original article here.
Third Coast Percussion Goes Metal
January 13, 2013, by Third Coast Percussion
January 10, 2013 by Graham Meyer Percussion is different from other instruments. Percussionists learn to play not one instrument, but dozens, each with its own techniques. The sound quality of some percussion instruments, such as a snare drum or a cymbal, jumps out of the musical texture even when everyone else plays fortissimo. Some percussion instruments don’t produce a musical pitch. (more…)
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