So Percussion

Collaborations

So Percussion frequently collaborates with other musicians and performers from around the world, including Buke and Gase, Dave Douglas, Matmos, Kneebody, Medeski Martin & Wood, Dan Deacon, The Dirty Projectors, Matmos, Glenn Kotche, Bobby Previte, Project Jenny, Project Jan, Kid Millions/Man Forever, Eli Keszler, Emily Johnson, Ain Gordon, Shen Wei, and The Princeton Laptop Orchestra.

2015 collaborative projects include the creation with Jad Abumrad of a score to the Radiolab story "The Heartbeat," part of the episode "Radiolab Live: Telltale Hearts featuring Oliver Sacks," produced by Molly Webster and performed live by So Percussion at Brooklyn Academy of Music's "RadioLoveFest.". So Percussion worked with composer West Dylan Thordson as contributing performers on the score of The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, a 2015 HBO documentary miniseries about Robert Durst. 2015 also saw the world premieres of "Timeline," a new work by Shara Nova with So Percussion, and Steve Mackey's "Before it is Time." (Both works are co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall as part of its 125 Commissions Project, and will be performed in New York by So in 2016.)

Discography

Education

Princeton University
The members of So Percussion are the Edward T. Cone performers-in-residence at Princeton University. The group has commissioned and recorded major works from Princeton composition faculty Steven Mackey, Paul Lansky, and Dan Trueman, as well as collaborating many times with the Princeton Sound Kitchen and Princeton Laptop Orchestra.

So Percussion Summer Institute
The annual So Percussion Summer Institute (SoSI), founded in 2009, also takes place on Princeton's campus. The program features teaching and performing with the members of So Percussion and with Princeton faculty and student composers. Each year includes a number of concerts on Princeton's campus, in New York, outdoors in downtown Princeton, and in Small World coffee shop.

Bard College Conservatory
In 2010, the four members of So Percussion were appointed as codirectors of a new percussion department at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. The first students were admitted into this five-year, double-degree undergraduate program in August, 2011. Additional guest faculty for the program include Jan Williams, Garry Kvistad, Tzong-Chin Ju, Greg Zuber, Daniel Druckman, and Jonathan Haas.

Original Music

A Gun Show
A Gun Show is an exploration of American gun culture using music, video, spoken text, and movement. The project was created collaboratively by the members of So Percussion together with director Ain Gordon and choreographer Emily Johnson.

Where (we) Live
Where (we) Live was an original project exploring ideas about home and community, created together with guitarist Grey mcmurray, director Ain Gordon, choreographer Emily Johnson, and video designer Martin Schmidt.

Imaginary City
In 2009 So Percussion wrote and produced an evening-length production called Imaginary City. Inspired by the Italo Calvino novel Invisible Cities, the project used as inspiration the six cities that are home to the presenters that commissioned it: The Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, NY; The Myrna Loy Center in Helena, MT; The Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, OH; The Flynn Center in Burlington, VT; Diverseworks Art Space in Houston, TX; and The Newman Center in Denver, CO. The project again included original video created by Jenise Treuting as well as theatrical direction by Rinde Eckert.

Music for Trains
In 2008 So Percussion developed the Music for Trains project in southern Vermont. The month-long residency project centered around performances in and around the towns of Brattleboro and Bellows Falls, including concerts in the train stations of those two towns, pre-recorded mp3 players listened to on the trains, and materials gathered from the local community. The project also included original video created by Jenise Treuting and an on-stage sculpture created by local artist Ahren Ahrenholz.

Martin Kersels: 5 Songs
In 2010 the Whitney Museum commissioned the members of So Percussion to write new original music for performance in connection with Martin Kersels' sculpture project for the Whitney Biennial: 5 Songs.

Q2
In 2010 the members of So Percussion composed and recorded the station-identifying "stings" for the internet radio station Q2, operated by WQXR.

Shen Wei - Undivided/Divided
The members of So Percussion composed the music for Undivided/Divided with choreographer Shen Wei, which premiered at the Park Avenue Armory in November, 2011.

2wice - Fifth Wall
In 2012 the members of So Percussion composed the score for 'Fifth Wall' - an iPad-based performance by dancer Jonah Bokaer, published by dance magazine 2wice.

Amid the Noise
A series of short pieces written by group member Jason Treuting, Amid the Noise was the first project of original music created and recorded by members of So Percussion. The project also features videos created by video artist Jenise Treuting, which were included in the CD/DVD release of 2006.

Awards

Selected Works Commissioned