Press release
Third Coast Percussion (TCP), a GRAMMY® Award-winning quartet of classically trained percussionists, proudly announces its latest Chicago concert season featuring powerful collaborations with Chicago composers both prominent and emerging. Among highlights, the ensemble reunites with its mentor, former Northwestern University professor Michael Burritt for a Chicago Premiere of his major new work, Since Time Began, in December, and collaborates with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery for a Chicago Premiere of her first work for a percussion quartet, next May.
In addition, the ensemble performs at the inaugural Beyond Baroque Festival to preview the ensemble’s upcoming album release in Fall 2023 and hosts an annual Fall Benefit Concert featuring Montgomery as a special guest with an exclusive preview of her new work. The ensemble’s annual Currents concert returns to present World Premieres of works by Northwestern University Professor of Composition Hans Thomalla and from TCP’s Currents Creative Partnership program that collaborates with composers. Beyond city limits, the ensemble continues to represent its Chicago roots via national and international touring, including engagements with the Santa Rosa Symphony (CA), the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (WI), and a European tour of Metamorphosis, its critically acclaimed performance blending percussive music with live performances of groundbreaking street dance choreography.
For all tickets, visit thirdcoastpercussion.com.
David Skidmore, Third Coast Percussion Executive Director and ensemble member, shares how the upcoming season is mindfully curated around the ensemble’s root in the city: “Michael Burritt is really the reason our ensemble exists. In the early 2000s we studied under him at Northwestern University, which was the origin of our Chicago roots. To premiere his new piece this season alongside works by other high-profile Chicago music creators, including Jessie Montgomery, Hans Thomalla, Ayanna Woods and more, is a perfect reflection of how we are celebrating our past by creating new works for the future. We will also celebrate our latest release on Chicago’s classical label, Cedille Records, and once again bring three inspiring next-generation music creators to Chicago through our Currents Creative Partnership—rounding out this celebration of our Chicago roots and our commitment to the cultural life of this city.”
Third Coast Percussion 2023-24 Chicago concert season
Between Breaths
Presented by Third Coast Baroque’s Beyond Baroque Festival
Saturday, September 2, 2023, 7:30 p.m. at Epiphany Hall, Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 S. Ashland Street.
Third Coast Percussion is honored to perform music from its upcoming album as part of the inaugural Beyond Baroque Festival. Between Breaths explores the daily rituals and fleeting moments of meditative pause that ground humans as a whole. Listeners are invited to disappear into a sonic experience that is both familiar and otherworldly and emerge somehow changed. The album Between Breaths will be released on September 8, on Chicago’s Cedille Records.
Program
Ayanna Woods: Triple Point
Tyondai Braxton: Sunny X
Gemma Peacocke: Death Wish
Missy Mazzoli: Millennium Canticles
Third Coast Percussion: In Practice
TCP Fall Benefit
Thursday, October 5, 2023, 6:00 p.m. Dinner / 7:30 p.m. Concert at Floating World Gallery, 1925 N. Halsted Street
Third Coast Percussion hosts an intimate evening featuring special guest, acclaimed composer and violinist, Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Jessie Montgomery. The event features an exclusive preview performance of her new piece for percussion quartet, as well as a conversation with the composer about her creative process and work with the ensemble. Dinner, cocktails, a silent auction and a dessert reception round out this celebration.
Since Time Began CHICAGO PREMIERE
Tuesday, December 5, 2023, 7:30 p.m. at Gannon Concert Hall, Holtschneider Performance Center, DePaul University, 2330 N. Halsted St.
Third Coast Percussion presents an extraordinary concert experience honoring the past, present, and future of percussion music. Michael Burritt served a vital role as a mentor to all members of the ensemble throughout their studies at Northwestern University, and his compositions for percussion have become standard repertoire for soloists and ensembles. Burritt has composed a monumental new work for TCP in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Zildjian cymbals–one of the music world’s oldest and most iconic brands. Audience favorites written by some of TCP’s recent collaborators round out this program, featuring some of the most exciting and virtuosic music TCP has ever performed.
Program
Clarice Assad: The Hero
Gemma Peacocke: Death Wish
Machado Mijiga: Situations Suite
Michael Burritt: Since Time Began (Chicago Premiere)
Jessie Montgomery + Third Coast Percussion CHICAGO PREMIERE
Friday, May 3, 2024, 7:30 p.m. at Gannon Concert Hall, Holtschneider Performance Center, DePaul University, 2330 N. Halsted St.
Acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator Jessie Montgomery, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence who was recently named Musical America’s 2023 Composer of the Year, collaborates with TCP in a dynamic program that equally showcases her excellence as visionary creator and virtuosic performer. Her first-ever work for percussion quartet draws a universe of sounds and characters out of a highly compact percussion setup and is paired with Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra–a tour de force that draws inspiration from the vibrant sounds of Javanese gamelan.
Program
Jessie Montgomery: New Work – Chicago Premiere
Lou Harrison: Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra
Jessie Montgomery, violin soloist (Additional works to be announced)
Currents WORLD PREMIERE
Friday, June 21, 2024, 8:30 p.m. at Constellation, 3111 N. Western Avenue
The annual Currents concert is TCP’s chance to stretch in new artistic directions, and often includes the most innovative and experimental work of the season. This year’s program features world premieres of new works by Northwestern University Professor of Composition Hans Thomalla, and by this year’s participants in TCP’s Currents Creative Partnership—a collaborative program with innovative emerging music creators: Joel St. Julien, Srayamurtikanti, and Nick Zoulek.
Third Coast Percussion 2023-24 Touring
Among Third Coast Percussion’s high-profile touring engagements in the 2023-24 season are the World Premiere of PLAY!, a new concerto by fellow Chicagoan Clarice Assad with the Santa Rosa Symphony (CA) on November 3, 2023, written for TCP and Assad to perform as a group of soloists with an orchestra; From me flows what you call Time by Toru Takemitsu as TCP performs as soloists with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (WI), May 17-18, 2024; and a European tour of Metamorphosis, including a performance at DeDoelen in Rotterdam, Netherlands and additional cities to be announced.
Third Coast Percussion’s 2023-24 Chicago Season is generously supported by members of TCP’s Chicago Circle, the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, and the Robert & Isabelle Bass Foundation. Third Coast Percussion acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and a CityArts grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
About Third Coast Percussion
Third Coast Percussion (comprised of Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, David Skidmore) is a GRAMMY® Award-winning Chicago-based percussion quartet and GRAMMY®-nominated composer collective. For nearly two decades, the ensemble has created exciting and unexpected performances that constantly redefine the classical music experience. The ensemble has been praised around the country for “commandingly elegant” (New York Times) performances, the “rare power” (Washington Post) of its recordings, and “an inspirational sense of fun and curiosity” (Minnesota Star-Tribune). A commission for a new work from composer Augusta Read Thomas in 2012 led to the realization that commissioning new musical works can be—and should be—as collaborative as any other artistic partnership. Through extensive workshopping and close contact with composers, Third Coast Percussion has commissioned and premiered new works by Philip Glass, Missy Mazzoli, Clarice Assad, Gemma Peacocke, Flutronix, Jlin, Tyondai Braxton, Augusta Read Thomas, Devonté Hynes, Georg Friedrich Haas, Donnacha Dennehy, Glenn Kotche, Christopher Cerrone, and David T. Little, among others, in addition to many of today’s leading up-and-coming composers through its Currents Creative Partnership program. Third Coast Percussion currently serves as ensemble-in-residence at Denison University.
