Music

SO PERCUSSION WITH LISA MOORE
Works by Martin Bresnick, Arvo Pärt, and Paul Lansky.

World Financial Center Winter Garden
Tuesday, November 20th at 7PM
220 Vesey Street
Battery Park City ››› Directions
Admission FREE

» New Sounds Live 2007-2008 Concert Season

People have been hitting objects for eons, but what sets The New York-based quartet So Percussion apart is that they perform everything from early Minimalist classics to ambient electronica. As part of the New Sounds Live concert series at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden, So Percussion, together with pianist Lisa Moore, premiere a new work – “Caprichos Enfaticos (Emphatic Caprices)” based on sketches by the painter Goya. It’s a Multimedia work for piano and percussion quartet by Martin Bresnick lamenting the excesses and tragedies of war. Also on the program is the United States premiere of a new percussion arrangement of Arvo Pärt’s most famous piece Fratres; and the New York premiere of a new acoustic work by computer music pioneer Paul Lansky.

SO PERCUSSION
So Percussion, the New York City-based quartet of twenty-something percussionists (comprised of Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski , Jason Treuting, Lawson White) has revolutionized drumming by mastering the canon of modern music, commissioning works by contemporary composers, and incorporating emerging technologies into their sound.

Coming together in the green pastures of New Haven at Yale's graduate program, So Percussion was created to give fresh voice to what co-founder Jason Treuting calls "funky contemporary music." Devoted to the conceptual dreamscapes of Reich, Iannis Xenakis, John Cage, and others, So established a disciplined work ethic, absorbing pieces over months in the Yale studio.

Their commissions span from such notables as David Lang and Paul Lansky to emerging talents Cenk Ergun, Dennis DeSantis and Suzanne Farrin, and their unique repertoire has been heard at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and The Knitting Factory in New York, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, and Montreal’s Le National, to name a few. In fact, So is one of the only outfits that can play at a major concert hall and with indie's hippest artists within 24 hours.

With an audience made up of "both kinds of blue hair... elderly matron here, arty punk there" (as the Boston Globe described it), So Percussion makes a rare and wonderful breed of music that both compels instantly and offers vast rewards for engaged listening. Powerfully strange & new (at least in the sense that little other music sounds like this) and ancient (in that people have been hitting objects for eons), perhaps it doesn’t need to be called anything at all.



LISA MOORE
Australian Lisa Moore enjoys one of the most diverse musical careers experienced by pianists today. Based in New York City (but originally from Canberra) and with a background in music and drama Moore has dedicated much of her life to creating new ways of experiencing the piano live in concert and as a recording artist. Combining powerful technique with vivid theatricality, her solo concerts are more than ordinary piano recitals. Moore sings, acts and plays, creating thematic programs focusing on a single idea or composer. Through her vast experience working with living composers she has developed a unique and unforgettable piano repertoire.

At home in the masterworks of past and present music, and in a diverse range of musical styles, Lisa Moore has collaborated with a huge range of musicians. She is the founding pianist for the Bang On A Can All-Stars, the New-York based electro-acoustic sextet and winner of Musical America’s 2005 Ensemble of the Year Award. Moore has been touring worldwide with them since their inception in 1992. Recent highlights include the world premiere of Mysterium Cosmographicum a piano concerto by Australian Michael Smetanin with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Reinbert De Leeuw in 2005 (and winner of the 2006 APRA Award for the Best Australian Work), the world premiere of Steve Reich’s Daniel Variations at the Barbican with the Steve Reich Ensemble and performing in Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Dollhouse’ in Oslo and Paris, directed by Lee Breuer and Mabou Mines Theatre. Lisa Moore was recently appointed Artistic Curator of the ‘Sounds Alive 08’ series, (part the 2008 Canberra International Chamber Music Festival) which will draw global artists to the Australian capital for two weeks of experimental and new music.

Moore has recorded 4 solo discs and over 25 collaborative recordings. Her solo discs include 'Which Side Are You On?' music by Frederic Rzewski (Cantaloupe), and three on the Tall poppies label: 'Purple, Black and Blues', a collection of piano works by Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin, the complete piano works of ‘Leos Janacek’ and 'Stroke' new Australian music. Moore’s collaborative and chamber music discs are for Sony Classical, Tall Poppies, BMG, Deutsche Grammophon, Point, Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, New Albion, New World and CRI. Future solo discs scheduled for release on Cantaloupe Music include works by Evan Ziporyn, John Halle, Don Byron, Annie Gosfield and Phil Kline.

Additional Resources:
» So Percussion’s website
» Lisa Moore’s website
» New Sounds Live 2007-2008 Concert Season
» World Financial Center