Percussion Perspectives Podcast

Ingar Zach is known for his research in sound production and alternative techniques in contemporary percussion. During his career he has developed a unique style using the Gran Cassa as the main source of sound exploration where he employs transducers with various objects to make the drum vibrate. He works in the field of contemporary music and is regularly touring worldwide and recording with his fixed ensembles; Dans les arbres, Huntsville and O3 alongside his solo- and collaborative projects. As a composer he is active in his regular ensembles, and he is continuously working with developing his solo work. In recent years he is composing for ensembles like Ensemble MusikFabrik, Quatuor Bozzini, Speak Percussion, Pinquins and Ludus Gravis. His solo work is used in different genres, such as film, dance, and art performances. Ingar Zach completed a Ph.D. project in artistic research at the Academy of Music in Oslo in 2024. You may read the exposition here. The music in the podcast is taken from the release Musica liquida.

Watch Ingar's work with the German ensemble MusikFabrik here, and a video from the project "Musique Pour Deux Corps" with Ingar and Italian percussionist Michele Rabbia here. Ingar discusses this album in a separate podcast published here.

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Eric Cha-Beach of the New York based Sō Percussion Quartet talks about the groups artistic work, their mission, organisational structure and other topics.

The music used in the the episode is taken from their collaborative albums Let the Soil Play its Simple Part with singer/composer Caroline Shaw and Forbidden Love with composer Julia Wolfe.

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Vanessa Porter is a German percussionist based in Stuttgart. She is one of the most active percussionists in her generation internationally. Her performances often combine composed works with improvisation, also employing electronics and visual media. In the 2033/23 season she will perform as a soloist of ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) in the most renowned European concert halls such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Barbican Centre London, Philharmonie Paris, L’Auditori Barcelona, and many more. She collaborates with many renowned composers and is regularly performing with groups such as Ensemble Modern, Ascolta Ensemble, and Les Percussions de Strasbourg.

Check out Vanessa's recent solo albums here.

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In this episode Henrik Knarborg talks with Evelyn Glennie about the role as a soloist, new commissions and advises for younger percussionists how to create a career. We also come closer to some of the mythical abilities to “listen” with the body and even how the vision is connected to this. Evelyn Glennie just received the renowned Danish Sonning Music Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes in the world, and played an intense Galla-concert including no less than 3 percussion concertos in the same program. More than just an amazing soloist, Evelyn also has clear goals with her music and art, and this is for sure a “must hear” episode.

Sound examples:

Vincent Ho: The Shaman (2017) with Winnipeg S.O. and conductor Alexander Mickelthwate

https://open.spotify.com/album/2x8qSrgsS711NH93Tj4xM3?si=b5ydxQl8R_Oq11E7qS1O4A&nd=1

Shadow behind the Iron Sun (1999): Evelyn Glennie, Michael Brauer, David Motion.

https://open.spotify.com/track/1So0i5v9IZFQ1Xm4DmVnws?si=6e2c2b3b11094ba1

Sonning Prize homepage:

https://www.sonningmusik.dk/evelyn-glennie/?lang=en

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Vanessa is a percussive artist dedicated to exploring how sound shapes our lives, awakening our ears to new sounds, in new spaces, with the hope that attentive listening will lead to attentive custodianship of place. With a long history in experimental music, Vanessa uses this body of knowledge to consider how we listen through site-specific explorations and collaborations. Trained as a percussionist in Australia, Germany and the USA, Vanessa relies on this sonic investigation of objects to build compositions, create contexts for improvisation, interpret the voices of other composers and collaborate across art-forms and disciplines. She has toured the world for 25 years, premiering over 100 works by significant national and international composers, presenting work at major international festivals, and collaborating with improvisers, dancers, artists and more.

Key projects include The Immersive Guitar (with Karin Schaupp at Curiocity Brisbane), The Piano Mill (a purpose built structure in the Australian bush), Sounding the Condamine (examining the history of the Condamine Bell in outback Queensland), Water Pushes Sand (examining intersections between Sichuan Opera and improvisational practices with Australian Art Orchestra), Sonic Dreams (a series of compositions about extinct and imaginary sounds) and Here and Now (her first book, examining approaches to music making in an Australian context).

She studied at the University of Adelaide, Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg and received her Masters and Doctorate from the University of California, San Diego where she worked closely with Steven Schick and George Lewis. In addition Vanessa has studied Sichuan Opera with Master Zhong Kaichi in Chengdu, China. She has been on the faculty of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music for 18 years, transforming the field of percussion in Australia, helping to define the field of Artistic Practice in music internationally, and pioneering the performer/composer, interpreter/improviser pathway for students. She is currently Director of Creative Arts Research Institute at Griffith University where she continues to drive research projects that help define the agenda for performing artists in the academy.

The episode includes sounds from

Excerpt from Lonely Hearts Pandemic Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaqzLu_AhuQ&list=PLM-eAZLeWDtlmg4hRNW0DKuJKt-aAHfWE

and

Vibrations in a landscape by Vanessa Tomlison and Erik Griswold

Performed at The Piano Mill with students from BaDaBoom Percussion (Queensland Conservatorium Percussion Department)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ed8VKVq5ww

Solo tamtam

https://room40.bandcamp.com/album/the-space-inside

Found object masterclass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXS67tbHC74

Playing vibraphone

https://vimeo.com/331963991

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