EDWARD T. CONE RESIDENCY
The members of the dynamic percussion quartet Sō Percussion have succeeded the Brentano String Quartet as Princeton University’s Edward T. Cone Performers-in-Residence, teaching graduate and undergraduate students as both classroom lecturers and performance coaches. They workshop and premiere new works by student and faculty composers, teach chamber music, present regular masterclasses, and perform at least two major concerts in the Princeton community each year. In addition, the annual Sō Percussion Summer Institute brings some of the most promising young percussionists and composers from around the world to Princeton each July to premiere new works, many by Princeton graduate students. The members of Sō have recently collaborated with the Director of the Department’s African Music Ensemble, Olivier Tarpaga, to design and teach a new course on rhythm. This course is offered as part of the undergraduate curriculum, exposing students to rhythmic practices from West African, Caribbean, European, South American, and North American traditions.
Along with Sō Percussion’s appointment, the generosity of the Edward T. Cone Performers-in-Residence program also supports an increased educational component for the Richardson Chamber Players, an increased commitment to early music, and term residencies for visiting solo artists.
ABOUT SŌ PERCUSSION
For twenty years and counting, Sō Percussion has redefined chamber music for the 21st century through an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (The New Yorker). They are celebrated by audiences and presenters for a dazzling range of work: for live performances in which “telepathic powers of communication” (The New York Times) bring to life the vibrant percussion repertoire; for an extravagant array of collaborations in classical music, pop, indie rock, contemporary dance, and theater; and for their work in education and community, creating opportunities and platforms for music and artists that explore the immense possibility of art in our time.
