Hello!

Last Spring, I got together with three really good friends (who also happen to be 3 of the most brilliant musicians I know) to record Paul Lansky’s beautiful percussion quartet Threads for Bridge Records - expect that record in the near future! We had a ton of fun with the project, and decided to keep playing together. The group is called Time Travelers and it consists of Gwen Burgett, Ayano Kataoka, Svet Stoyanov and myself.

We spent a while discussing what our next project would be and we decided that we wanted to commission a piece. Not just any piece – we wanted to commission a piece that would be a significant addition to the percussion quartet repertoire and would see a long life of performances beyond the premiere. We decided to commission my good friend and frequent collaborator Andy Akiho.

Now, if you’re a contemporary-music lover you may have heard Andy’s name by now. He’s a steel drum virtuoso who has made a huge splash on the composition scene with works for new music powerhouses like eighth blackbird, ETHEL and the Calder Quartet. Most recently, he was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic! If you’re in the NY area, you can check that premiere out on December 21st and 22nd.

Andy’s music is a ton of fun to play….we play in a group called Foundry together and I play his piece for marimba and string quartet all the time. This will actually be Andy’s first percussion quartet, and I can’t wait to see what he’s going to come up with!

We decided to fund this commission with Kickstarter, which, if you haven’t heard of it yet, is one of the more popular crowdfunding platforms. Basically, it allows anyone to back a project and help make it a reality. You can donate any amount that you want, and you’ll get a bunch of rewards for your support. In our campaign, we’re offering all kinds of stuff: lots of recordings (including previously unreleased ones), music lessons, drafts from Andy’s score and even a private concert for you and your friends! We liked the idea of it because we wanted to make this project about you, the people who will be listening to and maybe even playing this piece in the future. Anyone should be able to be a part of creating a new work of art, and with this project, you can be!

Please take a minute and watch our video and check out the campaign. I know that this is going to be an amazing piece and I can’t wait to share it with all of you!

Thank you so much, and happy holidays.