Thursday
JAN 31
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7:30 pm
KU Percussion Group with special guest Andy Akiho
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Page 9 DECGroup 9 | Canadian BrassAndy Christmas JAN 31 | KU Percussion with guest Akiho
PROGRAM
All pieces by Andy Akiho Alloy (2009)
Nora Birchfield Mark Bowersock Tyler Darnall Thomas Fabing Zachary Frieze Graham Jackson Tanner Lynn Ethan Martin Jakob Moberly Lauren Molloy Rachel Mrosko Blake Nations Christian Roberts Grayson Rushing Nicholas Wright
Jackson Graham Theodore Musick Ryan Pearson Grayson Rushing
Pillar IV (2014)
Karakurenai (2007)
KU Percussion Group
To wALk Or ruN in wEst harlem (2008/2016)
Graham Deckard Jackson Graham Luke Helker Ethan Martin Lauren Molloy Grayson Rushing Nicholas Wright Jack Yarbrough, piano
20-Minute Intermission
JAN 31 | KU Percussion Group with guest Andy Akiho
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21 (2009)
Andy Akiho, steel pan Michael Compitello, marimba*
Deciduous (2014)
Andy Akiho, steel pan Michael Compitello, marimba*
Selections from Synesthesia Suite Murasaki (2006) Hada Iro (2007) Daidai Iro (2005) Aka (2006)
Andy Akiho, steel pan Hannah Collins, cello* Michael Compitello, percussion* Brandon Draper, drums* Matthew Mackay, bass
With members of the KU Percussion Group
Andy Akiho, steel pan Hannah Collins, cello* Michael Compitello, percussion* Stacia Fortune, clarinet Michael Kirkendoll, piano* Ryan Pearson, percussion Emma Piazza, soprano Daniel Velasco, flute*
NO one To kNOW one (2010)
*KU faculty member
Please see your pre- and post-performance emails for program notes. Program subject to change.
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Page 11 DECGroup 9 | Canadian BrassAndy Christmas JAN 31 | KU Percussion with guest Akiho
Andy Akiho Described as “mold-breaking,” “alert and alive,” “dramatic,” and “vital” by The New York Times, Andy Akiho is an eclectic composer and performer of contemporary classical music. Recent engagements include commissioned premieres by the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble ACJW; a performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and three concerts at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Akiho has been recognized with awards including the 2014-15 Luciano Berio Rome Prize, the 2015 Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund, a 2014 Fromm Foundation Commission from Harvard University, the 2014 American Composers Orchestra Underwood Emerging Composers Commission, a 2014 Chamber Music America (CMA) Grant with the Friction Quartet and Jenny Q Chai, a 2012 CMA Grant with Sybarite5, the 2012 Carlsbad Composer Competition Commission for the Calder Quartet, and the 2011 Finale & ensemble eighth blackbird National Composition Competition Grand Prize. Additionally, his compositions have been featured on PBS’s News Hour with Jim Lehrer and by organizations such as Bang on a Can, American Composers Forum, and The Society for New Music. Akiho was born in 1979 in Columbia, South Carolina, and is based in New York City. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina (BM, performance), the Manhattan School of Music (MM, contemporary performance), and the Yale School of Music (MM, composition). Akiho is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in composition at Princeton University. He has attended the Aspen Music Festival, Heidelberg Music Festival, HKUST Intimacy of Creativity Festival, Bang on a Can Festival, Silicon Valley Music Festival, Yellow Barn Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest Festival and Avaloch Farm Music Institute, where he is the composer-in-residence. Akiho’s debut CD, No One to Know One on Innova Recordings, features brilliantly crafted compositions that pose intricate rhythms and exotic timbres around his primary instrument, the steel pan.
Michael Compitello Michael Compitello is a dynamic, “fast-rising” (WQXR) percussionist active as a chamber musician, soloist and teaching artist. He has performed with Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Signal, Ensemble ACJW and has worked with composers Helmut Lachenmann, Nicolaus A. Huber, David Lang, John Luther Adams, Alejandro Viñao, Marc Applebaum and Martin Bresnick on premieres and performances of new chamber works. With cellist Hannah Collins as New Morse Code, Michael has created a singular and personal repertoire through long-term collaboration with some of America’s most esteemed young composers. Their debut album, Simplicity Itself, described as “a flag of genuineness raised” (WQXR), was released in 2017 on New Focus Recordings. Michael also champions new and recent works for solo percussion in the U.S. and
JAN 31 | KU Percussion Group with guest Andy Akiho
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abroad. Currently, Michael’s Unsnared Drum project seeks to reinvent the muchmaligned instrument through collaboration with four of America’s most esteemed women composers. Michael is assistant professor of percussion at the University of Kansas and is assistant director of Avaloch Farm Music Institute. Learn more about Michael and his projects at michaelcompitello.com.
KU Percussion Group The KU Percussion Group (KUPG) is a nationally renowned chamber percussion ensemble dedicated to invigorating performances of new and classic percussion repertoire. KUPG takes advantage of the stylistic and sonic breadth that percussion allows, reinventing the classic repertoire and collaborating with composers on new works for percussion. Made up of undergraduate and graduate students in the KU School of Music, KUPG regularly performs on campus and around the Lawrence area. KUPG’s mission is to work closely with composers on new works for percussion ensemble, and is proud to count as its collaborators some of America’s most talented young composers, including Amy Beth Kirsten, Tonia Ko, Caroline Shaw, Thomas Kotcheff and Andrea Mazzariello. In 2017, KUPG hosted composer Robert Honstein for a portrait concert of his percussion works and partnered with KU’s composition department for a year-long project to workshop and premiere new works for percussion. In addition to regular performances, KUPG staged two performances of Pulitzer Prize winner John Luther Adams’ Inuksuit in Wichita and Lawrence in the 2017–2018 season. In 2016, KUPG performed Steve Reich’s complete Drumming with Sandbox Percussion, and the ensemble is proud to have performed alongside many other guest artists including Mike Truesdell and Andy Bliss. Nora Birchfield
Luke Helker
Blake Nations
Mark Bowersock
Tanner Lynn
Hannah Nuest
Simone Cruz
Ethan Martin
Ryan Pearson
Graham Deckard
Jakob Moberly
Grayson Rushing
Thomas Fabing
Lauren Molloy
Christian Smith
Zachary Frieze
Rachel Mrosko
Jonathan Trudeau
Jackson Graham
Theodore Musick
Nicholas Wright