Our world keeps growing; who knows how vast it will be in another hundred years. It is only a matter of how you choose to hear it. Robin Engelman was also a long-time staff member at the University of Toronto, where he mainly taught and conducted the percussion ensemble and the contemporary music ensemble. Percussion as a musical vehicle was mainly seen as something for pops or children's concerts - musical clocks, worried drummers, etc. McCaslin received his Doctorate through the University of Toronto and completed his dissertation on the conceptualization of contemporary melodic jazz drumming.
As a keyboard player and singer, he works in many musical contexts. Number of players: 5 Difficulty: Advanced Instrumentation Player 1: Voice male or female Player 2: Marimba 1 4 octave Player 3: Marimba 2 5 octave Player 4: Vibraphone Player 5: Bass drum, double headed tom tom, large suspended cymbal, crotales 2 octaves , glockenspiel. The music is based on the composer's original poem, This World. During his studies with such teachers as timpanist Fred Hinger and South Indian mridangam virtuoso Trichy Sankaran, Mr. Bob Becker, Bill Cahn, Russell Hartenberger and Garry Kvistad are virtuosos alone, and bring elements of their knowledge and character to a distinct and powerful whole.
Following the first concert at Eastman, the plan was simple: Let's do this again sometime soon. He is also a founding member of the Flaming Dono West African Dance and Drum Ensemble in Toronto. From head-bobbing Brazilian grooves down to a very understated, minimalistic tribute to Nexus percussionist John Wyre. Upon graduation, Becker moved to Washington, D. It is winter, after all - no need to refrigerate this dish! Ultimately, Jon's interest in music led him to enroll in the Jazz Studies program at McGill University, graduating with distinction in 1999.
In the spring of 2002 McCaslin completed his Master's in Jazz Studies at McGill University where he studied jazz drumming, improvisation and composition. They stand out in the contemporary music scene for the innovation and diversity of their programs, their impressive history of collaborations and commissions, their revival of 1920's novelty ragtime xylophone music, and their influential improvisatory ideas. Pull Ganti had me mesmerized through the incredible contrast of the large Burmese gong and the Chinese tam-tam, one with a definite pitch, the other with a seismic-wave-inducing wash of pure power. Tuesday, February 1, 2011 Any sound can be beautiful. He was born and raised in central Toronto, and he began playing drums after a strong dose of Frank Sinatra in his childhood. For more information please visit: www.
The focus now shifts to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Wyre was timpanist with the Milwaukee Symphony. I've also been fortunate to work with Russell during my time at the University of Toronto while working towards my doctorate. Baird Hersey is a National Endowment for the Arts Composition Fellow. Jon has also been fortunate to have performed with many of Canada's jazz elite including Charlie Biddle, Brian Hurley, Louise Rose, Alaister Kay, Mart Kinny, Gary Guthman, Mike Rud, Hadley Caliman, Greg Clayton, Chase Sanborn, Andre White, Tilden Webb, John LaBelle, Kevin Dean, Dave Turner, Ralph Bowen, Don Thompson, Dionne Taylor, Jim Vivian, Kelly Jefferson, Ian McDougall, Brad Turner, Jim Brenan, The McGill Jazz Orchestra, Jeff Johnston, Lorraine Desmerais, Steve Amirault, Hugh Fraser, Chucho Valdes, Kieran Overs, The Altsys Jazz Orchestra, Pat LaBarbera, The Regina Symphony Orchestra and The Montreal Jazz Big Band. It was an incredible finale to a percussive fireworks display, spanning the gamut of what is possible within the wide, wide world of, well, hitting things. .
When you put musicians of that caliber on stage together that know how to deal with sound and space on such a high, intimate level great things are always bound to happen. The quartet opened with a percussive staple, a blend of The Three Camps and The Downfall of Paris, both of which being pieces that are verbose in the vocabulary of any classically-trained percussionist. To keep an intense art form alive. In the mid-1970s the group recorded two albums with New Age music pioneer : Paul Horn and Nexus 1975 and Altura Do Sol 1976. I was prepared to be treated to a stellar concert, but boy, did this give me more than I bargained for! Russell has been a member of Steve Reich and Musicians since 1971, and performed on the Grammy Award-winning recording of Music for 18 Musicians.
As long as we're healthy, we'll be hanging in. I also remember how difficult it was, especially in the early days, to be taken seriously by the classical music establishment. The Balinese Gong Kebyar Gamelan ensemble, Giri Mekar, which he formed in 1987, is currently in residence at Bard College. From Los Angeles to Chicago, to Philadelphia, London, Hamburg, Lyon and Tokyo, audiences of all ages have been enraptured by Takemitsu's brilliant orchestration and Nexus' sensitive playing on their fantastic array of instruments. This was one of the most engaging and satisfying concerts of this year. Pieces by Steve Reich, one of the most influential contemporary American composers, Louis Hardin Moondog and Reza Ghassemi, the renowned Iranian novelist and composer are parts of the concert. Since the premiere in Carnegie Hall with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Nexus has given more than eighty performances of this magical work.
Their insatiable passion to unearth new and excitng sound concepts, collectively and individually, has led them to every corner of the globe, and their experimental interpretations with ethnic music traditions now form the core repertoire for percussion ensembles the world over. Since there was no music composed yet for this specific group of instruments with their specific pitches and pitch relationships, it seemed best for us to simply create our own music through improvisation. Enter your email to subscribe: Powered by. The group recorded an album for the , Dance of the Octopus, in 1990 with harpist. It is also a five voice, a cappella ensemble who uses only their breath to make sound to relax the body, still the mind and open the heart. For several years he toured as drummer and percussionist with the Paul Winter Consort. Get great free widgets at! Russel Hartenberger, originally from Oklahoma, went to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he also studied with Hinger.
He has been percussionist for the Marlboro Music Festival and timpanist with the Marlboro Festival Orchestra under Pablo Casals. We have explored the world of percussion and brought to the group the kinds of instruments and music that appealed to us. They were inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1999. While Mike Smith's ensemble of young musicians was definitely imbued with the electronics of the 21st century, it complemented the more traditional sound of the seasoned and senior artists of Nexus with integrity and verve. Nexus' performance made use of marimbas, glockenspiels, percussion, voice and vibraphone in a dancing acoustic celebration. John Wyre died in 2006 and was replaced by long-time professional colleague Garry Kvistad. Based on the cycles of the past, however, I suspect we will be doing exactly what we have been doing for the past thirty years: carefully guarding the essence of our relationships.
The group played Moondog compositions and compositions by Mike Smith, whose harmonic and contrapuntal excursions were more than worthy of comparison. You may not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit or distribute, in any manner, the material on this Web Site. Along with twenty other distinguished young jazz artists, McCaslin was featured with such jazz icons as Terence Blanchard, Carmen Lundy, Winard Harper, Curtis Fuller and John Clayton. They have performed it with dozens of orchestras around the world, bringing percussion center stage to orchestral music lovers everywhere. Their trademark virtuosity was softened by an obvious enjoyment of the nature of the music itself, amplifying its focus on joyful and sweet tonalities, fused with some pretty ferocious rhythms and counterpoint.