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February 11, 2008
NEW JERSEY PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE CELEBRATES 40TH ANNIVERSARY WITH CONCERT ON FEBRUARY 25
—Program to include performance of George Antheil’s pioneering “Ballet Mecanique”
The New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, a driving force in the state of New Jersey for the performance of new music that is in residence at William Paterson University, celebrates its 40th anniversary with a concert on Monday, February 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Shea Center for the Performing Arts on campus. Admission is free.
The concert will feature works by a variety of composers whose work the ensemble has championed since its founding in 1968 by Raymond Des Roches, a William Paterson professor of music, who retired in 2002. Among the works will be Edgard Varese’s “Ionisation,” which the group performed during its New York debut concert that same year. Peter Jarvis, current director of the ensemble, will conduct.
A highlight of the program will be American composer George Antheil’s pioneering Ballet Mecanique, a masterpiece of 1920s avant-garde music. Written for four pianos and a dozen percussion instruments, including an airplane motor, this large chamber work illustrated the composer’s mechanistic outlook and is considered a milestone in percussion literature.
Other works include the world premiere of Carlos Delgado’s “13.0.0.0.0” for timpani and lev, performed by Jarvis; Andre Jolivet’s “Suite en Concert,” featuring guest soloist Margaret Lancaster on flute; and Ron Mazurek’s “Five Pieces for Percussion Quartet.”
Lancaster is known for her interdisciplinary collaborations with writers and composers, and has built a repertoire of works composed specifically for her, many of which employ dance, drama, multimedia and electronics. A member of Essential Music, the Glass Farm ensemble and the Downtown ensemble, she has performed at numerous music festivals in the United States and abroad. Lancaster has recorded a solo CD, Future Flute, a collection of new electro-acoustic works.
The New Jersey Percussion Ensemble was founded in 1968 by Des Roches, who co-directed the group with Jarvis and Gary Van Dyke until 2004. The highly acclaimed ensemble is made up of professionals and students from William Paterson University, where it has been in residence since 1972. Because of an ongoing commitment to the proliferation of percussion repertoire, numerous pieces have been written for, premiered by and recorded by the ensemble. The ensemble has appeared in the United States and Europe as guests of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Group for Contemporary Music, the Composers Guild of New Jersey, the San Francisco Symphony, the Gaudeamus Foundation, Radio Denmark, and countless others. The group can be heard on Nonesuch, Composer's Recording Inc., Music and Arts, Koch International, Desoto, New World, NAXOS, the Composers Guild of New Jersey and Capstone recording labels.
Jarvis is active as a percussionist, conductor, educator, composer and administrator. He has premiered more than 100 works including pieces composed for him and the ensemble by Charles Wuorinen and Milton Babbitt, among others. Over the years he has played with and conducted many of the major new music groups in New York and New Jersey including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Group for Contemporary Music, and Talujon Percussion Quartet. His extensive touring has brought him to Asia, Russia, Canada, Mexico and throughout the United States presenting concerts and master classes. Jarvis is on the faculty of William Paterson University, Bergen Community College and Connecticut College where he teaches percussion and conducts chamber music.
For additional information, please call the Shea Center Box Office at 973-720-2371.
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www.wpunj.edu
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