Image Credit: Janette Beckman 2008

So Percussion Joins Faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.— The Bard College Conservatory of Music announces the appointment of So Percussion to its faculty. The members of So Percussion —Eric Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting— will serve as codirectors of the Conservatory’s new percussion program, which will admit its first students in August 2011.

So Percussion’s artistry was recently hailed by the New York Times for inspiring in audiences “a quiet amazement that could verge on disbelief.” Since coming together at the Yale School of Music in 1999, So Percussion has been performing to audience and critical acclaim throughout the United States and abroad. They were also singled out for praise in another New York Times article that declared “drums are the new violins.” So’s repertoire includes new works written for them by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Steve Reich and David Lang, plus Paul Lansky, Dan Trueman, Steve Mackey, Fred Frith, Martin Bresnick, and many others. So Percussion will be working closely with the John Cage Trust in residence at Bard College.

In addition to So Percussion, several internationally renowned percussionists will join Bard’s percussion program faculty. Garry Kvistad, a member of both Nexus Percussion and Steve Reich and Musicians; Jan Williams, emeritus professor of percussion at SUNY Buffalo; and Tzong-Ching Ju, artistic director of Ju Percussion Group of Taiwan, will serve as program advisers. Greg Zuber, principal percussion of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and artist-faculty of the Verbier Music Festival; Jonathan Haas, principal percussion of the American Symphony Orchestra and artist-faculty at the Aspen Music Festival; and Daniel Druckman, chair of the Juilliard percussion program and associate principal percussionist of the New York Philharmonic, will also teach in the new program.

“We’re delighted to launch our percussion program with this great combination: a cutting-edge ensemble joined by some of the most eminent and influential figures in the percussion world,” said Robert Martin, director of The Bard Conservatory of Music.

Bard’s percussion program will emphasize a combination of basic instruction with individualized exploration of the many facets of percussion playing, including orchestral training, world music, contemporary chamber music, and jazz. Students will have the opportunity to work with roster members through individual lessons, chamber music coaching, and joint faculty-student performances. Students will also perform with the Conservatory Orchestra, and in chamber concerts of the Conservatory. The goal of the program is to prepare each student for specialized postgraduate percussion study based on solid grounding in the basics and familiarity and experience with the wide range of possible specializations.

For information on the admissions process, consult the Conservatory website http://www.bard.edu/conservatory and the Conservatory director of admissions, Nathan Madsen.

The Bard College Conservatory of Music is an innovative, five-year, double-degree program guided by the principle that musicians should be broadly educated in the liberal arts and sciences to achieve their greatest potential. While training and studying for the bachelor of music degree with world-class musicians and teachers and performing in state-of-the-art facilities, such as the Frank Gehry–designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard Conservatory students also pursue a bachelor of arts degree at Bard, one of the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges. In addition, the conservatory offers graduate programs in Vocal Arts, led by renowned soprano Dawn Upshaw, and in Conducting, led by Harold Farberman, as well as Post-Graduate Collaborative Piano Fellowship, directed by Frank Corliss. For more information call 845-758-7196, or e-mail [email protected].

(9.8.10)

Website: https://www.bard.edu/conservatory

This event was last updated on 09-21-2010

Back to Top