It’s been a while since I’ve posted here – this year has been a bit of a whirlwind. There’s lots to catch up on, so I’m going to jump right in:
Seven Pillars, Sandbox Percussion’s album with Andy Akiho, has been nominated for two GRAMMY awards this year – Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, and Best Contemporary Classical composition! And, The Arching Path, Christopher Cerrone’s beautiful album that features performances by myself and several incredible colleagues is also nominated, in the Best Classical Compendium Category. It is quite the honor to be recognized this way, alongside so many other inspiring artists – all of us will be out in Las Vegas for the ceremony, and we’ll be celebrating, one way or another! You can stream our part of the ceremony live at 12:30pm PT/3:30pm ET.Speaking of Seven Pillars, Sandbox Percussion is giving the NYC PREMIERE of this work – with music by Andy Akiho and stage direction/lighting design by Michael Joseph McQuilken, at the Baryshnikov Arts Center next month. We’re giving two performances - April 7 and 8. You can see an example of what our live performance looks like in the video at the top of this email. We cannot wait to bring this piece to our home city and to this beautiful venue – if you’re in town, please join us.There is so much more going on this spring. Here are just a few highlights:
- Sandbox performs at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium on April 2, in collaboration with the Cecilia Chorus.
- Sandbox returns to Dumbarton Oaks on April 10, for a program that includes world premieres by Tawnie Olson and David Crowell.
- The world premiere of Theodore Wiprud’s Mysteria for percussion and string quartet at NEC on April 21 with the Borromeo String Quartet.
- Seven Pillars in New Hope, PA with the Concordia Chamber Players on April 24.
- A performance of Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al with the University of Missouri-Kansas City Symphony at the Kauffman Center on May 6.
- A collaborative program with Sandbox and pianist Conor Hanick at the Gilmore Piano Festival on May 11 – featuring Christopher Cerrone’s Don’t Look Down, and the world premiere of a new work for all 5 of us by Tyshawn Sorey.
- Two programs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall – George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children on May 3, and Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals on May 15 and 17.
That gets us through the middle of May – there is much to share about the summer and the fall, but this is enough for now. Check out the events page here for all of the details, and I’ll see you soon!