Music for Skins, Metals, Woods and Electronics
The UKPE concert program begins with Iannis Xenakis’ powerful work “Peaux” (skins), which finds the six percussionists linked by an inexorable network of rhythmic layers, structures and relationships. At times they pound out deliberate, even cruel unison passages. Another of Xenakis’ works, “Claviers” (keyboards) features the keyboard mallet percussion in colorful exchanges that often border on overload.
As a prelude to his residency the following week with the Lexington Philharmonic, the UKPE will feature Avner Dorman’s latest work for percussion alone, “Consumed.” The bulk of the melodic and harmonic material is centered on a quartet of marimbas, but also includes vibraphone, bells and tuned cowbells called “almglocken.”
Guest artist Dave Gerhart joins the UKPE as soloist on the Caribbean steel pan for "Passageways" by Baljinder Sekhon. In this new work, each section is a process-oriented progression of rhythm, pitch and timbre. These segments act as a string of transitions where each section serves as a passageway leading to the next.
The closing work, “Rocket Summer” for percussion ensemble was inspired by Ray Bradbury’s classic collection of short stories, “The Martian Chronicles.” First published in 1950, it tells the story of Earthmen fleeing a troubled and eventually devastated Earth and setting out to colonize the Martian planet. The work, composed by UK alumnus Dan Moore, features the theremin, a strange electronic instrument often found on old sci-fi radio and movie soundtracks.
The UK Percussion Ensemble, conducted by James Campbell, is internationally recognized for its excellence and innovative programming and has won the prestigious Percussive Arts Society Collegiate Percussion Ensemble Contest five times.
For more information on the UK Percussion Ensemble concert, contact James Campbell, director of Percussion Studies at UK School of Music, at 859-257-8187.
UKPE is one of several ensembles housed at the UK School of Music in the UK College of Fine Arts. The school has garnered national recognition for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, composition, theory and music history.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu