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.
ABC7 Chicago Interviews Third Coast Percussion
March 13, 2021, by Hosea Sanders
ABC7 journalist Hosea Sanders interviewed TCP members David Skidmore and Robert Dillon in advance of the GRAMMY® Awards. Read the highlights below, and click here to watch the interview. CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Grammy Awards are presented this weekend and we could see a local winner! Chicago's own Third Coast Percussion, joined by composer Blood Orange, are among nominees. Some of the group talks about how they make daring and wondrous music like few artists can! This mind-bending group has been together for 16 years, has three Grammy nominations and even won in 2017. "The thrill does not ever end," said Robert Dillion with Third Coast Percussion. "Obviously this year we wish we could be in LA with everyone else." The ongoing pandemic means they will have to celebrate here in Chicago this year. "We're getting together in our rehearsal studio, safely distanced from one another," said David Skidmore, also…
Play It Forward: Devonté Hynes’ Grammys Surprise And Biggest Inspirations
, by Ari Shapiro
NPR's Ari Shapiro interviewed Devonté Hynes about our GRAMMY®-nominated collaborative album, Fields, on the series "Play it Forward." Read the interview below, or click here to listen to the piece. With a new year comes a new season of "Play It Forward," All Things Considered's chain of artistic inspiration, where we ask musicians to tell us about their work and the people who inspire them, after which we ask the person mentioned for their own, and so it continues. This series often takes leaps from one genre to another, which makes Devonté Hynes a tricky and exciting place to jump back in. Hynes doesn't hew to any one genre: under the name Blood Orange, he produces pop music; under his own name, he writes evocative scores for TV shows and movies. Now, he's also working at the forefront of classical music, collaborating with artists like Philip Glass. Hynes' latest album, Fields — a collaboration with…
Zoellner Center concert preview: Third Coast Percussion discuss genre-defying music and what to expect at Bethlehem show
May 26, 2021, by Jay Honstetter
They began by playing DIY concerts in their native Chicago. They have performed on four continents, snagged two Grammys (plus a third nomination), made 13 albums, and have broken down genre barriers repeatedly. For 16 years, Third Coast Percussion has been stretching the limits of classical percussion music through collaboration and experimentation. The group’s newest album “Archetypes,” explores new territory with pieces centered around 12 of Carl Jung’s archetypes and features world-renowned classical guitarist Sergio Assad and his daughter composer, vocalist, pianist, arranger Clarice Assad — in a collaborative performance that draws inspiration from Brazillian jazz to classical minimalism and beyond. Third Coast Percussion has created a program for Lehigh University’s Zoellner Arts Center’s (virtual) guest artist series, On Stage At Home. The program will be available from March 19 through April 19 and will feature the ensemble performing an eclectic mix of their genre-defying works. Band member and co-founder…
Grammy-winning percussionists to rap on entrepreneurship and racial justice
, by David Siegel
GMU resident artists Third Coast Percussion ensemble also providing music training to NOVA school students. As we in the performing arts continue to struggle with finances and other resources in the aftershock of COVID-19, with no end in sight, how can we inform taxpayers and policymakers of the value of the performing arts—beyond entertainment and filling seats—as we seek additional public funds? More and more, some artists are going into their communities to show their value. One example is Third Coast Percussion, the Grammy Award–winning group currently Artist-in-Residence at George Mason University. While providing unique virtual music training to Northern Virginia public school students, Third Coast Percussion will appear November 10, 2020, in an online event to discuss critical issues such as music and racial justice in America as well as what drives their entrepreneurial spirit. “We are so lucky to be working with such an innovative ensemble of musicians who are embracing these challenging times…
For Devonté Hynes, His First Grammy Nom — For Classical Music — ‘Feels Like Doors Opening’
March 12, 2021, by Rebecca Milzoff
We are honored that our album Fields, a collaboration with composer, producer, and performer Devonté Hynes, has been nominated for GRAMMY® Awards in two categories. Check out this fantastic feature on Devonté, and hear about why nominations in the classical category are so special to him. Producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Devonté Hynes, 35, has worked with acts like Solange, Carly Rae Jepsen, HAIM and Mariah Carey; records on his own as Blood Orange; and has scored screen projects, including Queen & Slim and HBO’s We Are Who We Are. But his first-ever Grammy nomination came in a wholly unexpected realm: classical music. Fields — a suite of his music recorded by Third Coast Percussion, with Hynes himself on synths — began three years ago as one piece that Hynes was commissioned to write for a dance performance. Now he’s nominated for best chamber music/small ensemble performance. (The album is also up for best engineering.) No one’s more surprised than Hynes himself. Below, he reflects…
Devonté Hynes, Third Coast Percussion Bring A Cutting-Edge Style To the Classical Category Of the Grammys
, by Suzanne Marques
Click here to watch our interview with CBS Los Angeles's Suzanne Marques and composer Devonté Hynes, about our collaborative GRAMMY®-nominated album, Fields.
Album review: Archetypes
March 4, 2021, by Jean-Yves Duperron
Music is all about sound. Sound is all about vibration. Vibration is all about pulse. Pulse is all about life. Therefore music is life's tuning fork. This recording is all about sound, and what better way to express the vibrating pulse of life than with percussion instruments which inherently produce sound by the way they vibrate and influence air movement. And the same can be said about a plucked guitar string whose vibration is reinforced by the body of the instrument. Combine the two instruments and you have the ingredients to create and generate an abundance of ear candy. The dozen pieces in this collection are all world premiere recordings that combine jazz rhythms with ambient and chamber music textures, and are as varied as the archetypes they strive to represent. I hear Weather Report, Latin soul, Brian Eno, Reich, Partch ... lurking here and there, along with plenty of original touches.…
“Metamorphosis” comes to WMPAC
May 26, 2021, by Admin
BIG SKY – The upcoming performance at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center is hard to categorize, but will certainly be unforgettable. The show is called “Metamorphosis,” and pairs Grammy-winning percussion group Third Coast Percussion with dance by Movement Art Is, a legendary street dance group founded by Jon Boogz and Lil Buck. The two groups began collaborating on this project over a year ago, but the pandemic stalled their live performance efforts. Belief in the power and potential of the show, however, inspired the groups to continue developing it remotely, trading music and choreography back and forth virtually. The project “is going to combine U.S. street dancing styles and classical percussion ensemble music,” said David Skidmore, a Third Coast Percussion member. “This project is a time capsule—literally almost everyone on the planet is going through something. One of the things that’s going to come out of this moment is…
Third Coast Percussion to drum up Valentine’s weekend virtual programming at Hancher
, by Maddie Johnston
This weekend, Third Coast Percussion will bring online fun to Hancher Auditorium with their Saturday performance of “Think Outside the Drum,” and their Sunday family event, “The Hancher Youth and Family Talent Show.” Hancher will feel the love this weekend with two virtual programs, both hosted by Grammy-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion. On Feb. 13 at 2 p.m., Hancher Auditorium will host an online performance featuring the eclectic musical styles of Chicago-based percussion quartet Third Coast Percussion. The following day, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m., the band will host and perform alongside families in The Hancher Youth and Family Talent Show. The ensemble has the unique mission of inspiring and educating listeners through their creation of unexpected and exciting musical experiences. Although trained as classical musicians, the four musicians draw inspiration from a wide-ranging list of other music styles, including Blue Man Group, Brazilian jazz, electronic music, and pop music.…
Raise a Glass to Third Coast Percussion’s Performance of Philip Glass
, by Zimra Chickering
Third Coast Percussion’s virtual performance on Nov. 13 hosted by the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts left me with a smile on my face and my feet tapping. As an art history major, it lifted my spirits to see Third Coast Percussion, a Chicago-based group of musicians, showcase their skills to global audiences and teach Emory students about their artistic entrepreneurship along the way. Not only did Third Coast Percussion touch me as a lover of the arts, but they also brought me back to my hometown of Chicago and my family. David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and Sean Connors founded the quartet 15 years ago and have since performed all over the world. The four talented musicians are also established teachers of music and connect with their audience through the incorporation of Q&A sessions and mini-lessons into their concerts. The concert consisted of three pieces by composer Philip…
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