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.
Chicago percussion group bringing sweet treats for Hancher’s virtual Valentine’s weekend
May 26, 2021, by Diana Nollen
In between the East Coast and West Coast lies the Third Coast - the Great Lakes - where a band of percussionists marches to the beat of lots of different drums. From the shores of Lake Michigan comes Third Coast Percussion, a quartet of Northwestern University alums, teachers and percussionists on a mission to 'inspire and educate through the creation of exciting and unexpected musical experiences.” That involves using lots of bells and whistles, from drums traditionally found in bands and symphonies to conch shells and other traditional instruments used in cultures around the world. The Grammy-winning group has whipped up a Valentine's treat for all ages with a pair of Hancher online events this weekend. First up is 'Think Outside the Drum,” an interactive concert prerecorded in the ensemble's Chicago studio, followed by a live Q&A with the musicians on Saturday afternoon. Then on Sunday's afternoon, they're hosting Hancher's Youth & Family…
Concert Preview: Third Coast Percussion with the Elkhart County Symphony Orchestra
March 12, 2021, by Jack Walton
When a piece of music is needed for the heralding of an exciting and momentous occasion, Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” has become an ideal choice. It’s familiar, brief and invigorating. The composition has been used at opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games, countless sports matches, the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama and even as wake-up music for the astronauts on the Space Shuttle. “Fanfare for the Common Man” signals that something wonderful is about to happen. Soo Han, the new musical director of the Elkhart County Symphony, has selected “Fanfare for the Common Man” to open his first concert with the orchestra, a virtual watch party titled “Concert of Hope, Reflection and Joy.” The performances were recorded in January. Grammy-winning quartet Third Coast Percussion appears as special guest for a performance of Augusta Read Thomas’ “Selene: Moon Chariot Rituals.” With narration from host Rania El-Kareh, the…
Third Coast Percussion & Devonté Hynes: GRAMMY®-Nominated Fields
, by Thirsty Magazine
The Cedille Records' release of Fields in 2019 was a watershed moment that melded Grammy winner Third Coast Percussion with R&B/Alternative artist Devonté Hynes (aka "Blood Orange") in a blend of classical and minimalist music. Hynes' composition, recorded in collaboration with the members of Third Coast Percussion, resulted in a recording that has been called "a collage of metric perfection." The album was nominated for a 2020 Grammy in two categories: Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble and Best Classical Engineered Recording. Stay Thirsty Magazine has written about the genius of Third Coast Percussion in the past and this collaboration with the multi-talented Hynes, known for his work as an instrumentalist, composer, songwriter and vocalist, produces lush, powerful, and intricate structures that embody its breakthrough concepts. We enthusiastically draw your attention to this unique combination of genres that has a fascinating magnetism. Third Coast Percussion was previously nominated for two Grammy's and won one (2016).…
These Five Albums Show That Contemporary Classical is Thriving
December 2, 2020, by Peter Margasak
Devonté Hynes, of Blood Orange fame, wrote the music on Fields (Cedille 192; 60:47 ***1/2) as a score for choreographer Emma Portner, collaborating closely with Chicago’s Third Coast Percussion, which orchestrated his works. While known for alternative pop and r&b, Hynes started out playing classical music, and the influence of minimalist Philip Glass shines through. At the same time, a penchant for woozy melodies and lush synth textures exerts itself, blending seamlessly with percussion that rings and gurgles seductively and establishes pulsing rhythms evoking the wide-open spaces evinced by the work’s title. Click here to read the full article, also featuring Joanna Bailie, Dither, Ryoko Akama, and Tim Parkinson.
ALBUM REVIEW: Third Coast Percussion frolics in Blood Orange’s beautiful ‘Fields’
November 24, 2020, by Max Heilman
When R&B visionary Blood Orange announced a classical album, what would result was anybody’s guess. Devonté Hynes traces his musical interest back to composers like Claude Debussy, so in many ways these compositions are a full circle moment for him. He wrote and conceptualized Fields on a digital interface, and left the rest to the Grammy-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion. The players’ interpretation and performance of Hynes’ material is breathtaking enough, but the songwriter’s personality and attention to aesthetic shines through on Fields to an engrossing effect. The first 11 tracks are united under the banner of “For All Its Fury.” Just by listening to the first two tracks, it’s hard to think of any fury disturbing this calm. “Reach” and “Blur” deliver their respective soundscapes of angelic chimes and submerged marimbas. The album’s impressionistic minimalism links back to the immersive ambience of Blood Orange’s 2018 album, Black Swan. His knack for quiet grandiosity was surely evident on the digital files…
Fields: Devonté Hynes’ Debut Classical Album with Third Coast Percussion
February 3, 2020, by Anne Goldberg-Baldwin
On October 11, 2019, pop music star Devonté Hynes (a.k.a. Blood Orange) released his debut classical album Fields in partnership with Grammy-Award winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion on Cedille Records. The album features world premieres of Hynes’ music performed by Third Coast Percussion, with Hynes himself on synthesizers. Hynes’ synthetic sounds blend pop aesthetics with classical and ambient soundscape composition, creating a foundation over which Third Coast Percussion works its magic as virtuoso performers. Hynes’ cycle For All Its Fury for Third Coast Percussion in collaboration with Modern dance company Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is a collage of meditative minimalism mixed with electronic noise filtering set in a multi-movement form. Simple, clean lines executed by TCP with the utmost delicacy permeate the movements, creating microcosms of Hynes’ ambient sound world. The piece oscillates between electroacoustic and electronic cells that reemerge in a post-minimalist blend of noise music and Glass-ian motives as clouds of amorphous electronic sound wash over and…
Third Coast Percussion’s Mesmerizing Debut of La Jolla Music Society’s ProtoStar Series
November 18, 2020, by Ken Herman
Metamorphosis, Saturday’s electric online performance by Third Coast Percussion and movement artists Myles Yachts and Quentin Robinson at the La Jolla Music Society’s Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, opened an exciting new chapter in that august organization’s story. The four virtuoso percussionists who comprise Third Coast Percussion—Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore,—offered a bracing program of music by Philip Glass and others that transcended the minimal of musical minimalism to conjure complex, densely textured waves of music. In works such as Glass’s “Metamorphosis” and Jlin's “Paradigm” that employed marimba, vibraphone, and glockenspiel, the ringing intensity of these malleted instruments proved nothing short of orchestral in scope. In “Dissonance” from Jlin’s Perspective, the percussion quartet created equally complex textures using only drums of various sizes, creating a contrasting tapestry of dry, discrete sounds that displayed a spectrum of bright, arresting attacks without the halo of resonance the malleted instruments created.…
‘Metamorphosis’: Percussionists and dancers to transform stage at La Jolla’s Conrad for livestreamed premiere
November 4, 2020, by Elisabeth Frausto
The stage at the La Jolla Music Society’s Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center will transform Saturday, Nov. 7, with the livestream-only world-premiere performance of “Metamorphosis” from Grammy Award-winning group Third Coast Percussion and Movement Art Is. The collaborative performance blends percussion ensemble with street dance choreographed by MAI co-founders Jon Boogz and Lil Buck and performed by movement artists Ron Myles and Quentin Robinson. The dancers will be onstage along with Third Coast Percussion, a Chicago-based quartet of classically trained percussionists who normally perform all over the country in addition to recording music. “Metamorphosis” is a “really fantastic project,” said Rob Dillon, a TCP member. The show’s name reflects the “transformation of music” featured throughout, with a program containing new material composed by electronic music producer Jlin and composer Tyondai Braxton, along with TCP’s arrangements of pieces by Philip Glass, a composer Dillon said TCP “reveres.” “There’s a really interesting expressive range in…
Two World Premieres by Third Coast Percussion at BGSU New Music Festival
October 22, 2020, by Tracy Monaghan
On October 16, 2020, the Chicago-based performing group Third Coast Percussion presented an evening of music as part of Bowling Green State University’s 41st annual New Music Festival. While most of the festival was live-streamed via BGSU’s YouTube channel, Third Coast Percussion commandeered the live-stream on their own YouTube channel for the special concert, which included a world premiere by the Festival’s guest composer, Augusta Read Thomas. While watching live music is sorely missed, the virtual nature of this concert allowed for a bonus: each piece was flanked by pre-recorded talks by composers on the program or the musicians themselves. Movement 3 from Philip Glass’ Perpetulum served as a short and polite fanfare to open the concert. Commissioned by Third Coast Percussion in 2018, the piece was clearly familiar to the musicians, who played the largely diatonic and major music on pitched percussion instruments with an almost casual ease, despite the shifting meter. The next piece…
Review: Third Coast Percussion Premiered Two New Works on Friday
October 20, 2020, by Louis Harris
As part of Bowling Green State University’s 41st annual New Music Festival, Chicago’s Grammy-Award winning Third Coast Percussion quartet offered a performance of several works commissioned by or written for them. Friday night’s program, which TCP prerecorded in their studio near Ravenswood in September, included two world premieres. It was the latest in a long running effort by TCP to keep the public entertained during a pandemic that has turned the vibrant world of performing arts into a wasteland. Live music in an auditorium filled with people absorbing aural magic creates a vibe that cannot be fully replicated on a flat screen TV in the living room. However, TCP was one of the first to use virtual technology to infuse new and different performance concepts that live, in-person performances don’t allow. While maximizing the distance between performers and the audience, a broadcast enables things that bridge that distance. This includes a running commentary in…
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