music.princeton.edu
SŌ PERCUSSION PRESENTS FREE CONCERT
A NEW PROGRAM BRINGS THE STRING QUARTET GENRE TO PERCUSSION
ENSEMBLE
Friday, September 13, 2019 at 7:30PM in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
Internationally renowned percussion ensemble Sō Percussion present a free (ticketed) concert
on Friday, September 13, 2019 at 7:30PM in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall . One
of two free concerts that the Princeton University Department of Music’s Edward T. Cone
Performers-in-Residence present annually, and the first concert in the Department of Music’s
robust 2019/20 public programming, this performance features an unusual program with works
by Pulitzer prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe and the ensemble’s own Jason Treuting .
Wolfe’s Forbidden Love , co-commissioned by the LA Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall, is
written for the instruments of a string quartet to be performed percussively. Treuting’s Amid the
Noise is a communal music-making project that will be presented alongside guest Princeton
University student artists. Both works highlight the incredible range of percussion instruments,
and the exciting genre-defying trajectory of music written for these instruments.
Free tickets are required for this concert, which will be released on Friday, September 6,
2019 at 10AM online and in person during box office hours at the Frist Campus Center
and Lewis Arts complex box offices. Remaining tickets will be available one hour before
the concert at the venue.
Sō Percussion’s second free concert of the season, taking place on Saturday February 15, 2020 at
7:30PM in Richardson Auditorium, will feature guest artist and Pulitzer prize-winning composer
Caroline Shaw. For more information, visit music.princeton.edu.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
JULIA WOLFE: Forbidden Love
Pulitzer prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe and Sō Percussion blend together the two worlds of
string quartet and percussion ensemble in Wolfe’s new String Quartet, written for percussion
quartet. “This is the piece where I do everything that real string players won’t let me do,” says
Wolfe. The four members of Sō Percussion have long been adept at teasing new sounds out of
objects from cacti to the inside of a piano, to simple planks of wood. With this new piece they
approach string instruments with fresh eyes and ears: what new sounds and textures might still
be locked within these ancient instruments? Can players with no traditional skill playing string
instruments find new musical purposes for them? By amplifying the traditional four instruments
(two violins, viola, and cello) with contact mics, Sō and Julia give the String Quartet a respectful
but unorthodox treatment. Using implements such as chopsticks, coins, and pencils, and finding
all kinds of unusual ways to hold them while tapping, bowing, plucking, and striking, the
exciting universe of rhythm and texture inhabited by the percussion quartet finds its voice in the
most iconic of classical ensembles.
JASON TREUTING: Amid the Noise
Jason Treuting’s Amid the Noise began as a soundtrack, which morphed into an album and then
into a flexible set of live music. Now it is a communal music-making project that can occur with
a flexible number of musicians in almost any combination. Its musical ideas are abstract: drones,
melodies, rhythms, textures, and patterns. Like Terry Riley’s In C , this work maintains its
identity and integrity even through wildly different realizations which allows the work to
incorporate instruments beyond percussion. This performance will be specific to Princeton
University, incorporating the talents of a diverse array of Princeton University student
instrumentalists.
ABOUT SŌ PERCUSSION
The members of the dynamic percussion quartet Sō Percussion are Princeton University’s
Edward T. Cone Performers-in-Residence, teaching graduate and undergraduate students as both
classroom lecturers and performance coaches. They workshop and premiere new works by
student and faculty composers, teach chamber music skills, present regular masterclasses, and
perform at least two major concerts in the Princeton community each year. In addition, the
annual Sō Percussion Summer Institute brings some of the most promising young percussionists
and composers from around the world to Princeton each July to premiere new works, many by
Princeton graduate students.
With its innovative multi-genre original productions, sensational interpretations of modern
classics, and “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam,” ( The New Yorker ),
Sō Percussion has redefined the scope of the modern percussion ensemble. Their repertoire
ranges from “classics” of the 20th century, by John Cage, Steve Reich, and Iannis Xenakis, et al.,
to commissioning and advocating works by contemporary composers such as David Lang, Steve
Mackey, and Paul Lansky, to distinctively modern collaborations with artists who work outside
the classical concert hall, including vocalist Shara Worden, electronic duo Matmos, the
groundbreaking Dan Deacon, legendary drummer Bobby Previte, jam band kings Medeski,
Martin, and Wood, Wilco’s Glenn Kotche, choreographer Shen Wei, and composer and leader of
The National, Bryce Dessner, among many others.
More information about Sō Percussion’s public events and residency is available at
music.princeton.edu .
LISTING INFORMATION
SŌ PERCUSSION: Free Concert
WHEN: Friday, September 13, 2019 at 7:30PM
WHAT: A free program featuring a string quartet for percussion instruments by Pulitzer
prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe, and the ensemble’s own Jason Treuting.
WHERE: Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall, Princeton University
TICKETS
:
Free tickets are required, and will become available on Friday, September 6, 2019 at
10AM online at music.princeton.edu and in person during box office hours at the Frist
Campus Center and Lewis Arts complex box offices. Remaining tickets will be
available one hour before each concert at the venue.
For further information please contact Dasha Koltunyuk at [email protected] or 609-258-6024
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