Talujon - Visiting Artist Series
Wed, November 13th, 2024
7:30 pm
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The Williams College Department of Music presents Talujon Percussion Group featuring guest artists Jamie Jordan, soprano & Paula Matthusen, electronics as part of the Visiting Artist Series.
This event is free and open to the public.
Talujon Percussion Group is: Ian Antonio, Caitlin Cawley, David Cossin, Matthew Gold, Tom Kolor, Michael Lipsey, and Matt Ward.
Talujon gives the world premiere of On the Pulse of Morning for percussion sextet by Williams Music Department faculty member Ileana Perez Veláquez. Inspired by the Maya Angelou poem of the same title, the composition honors the uplifting character of the poem, and is a celebration of the composer’s people and her Cuban heritage. Employing a vast battery of percussion instruments, the work is inspired by the virtuosity and performance practice of Afro-Caribbean drummers
The program also features recent commissions and groundbreaking music by composers with whom the group has worked closely. Mathew Rosenblum’s We Lived Happily During the War for soprano and six percussionists, featuring Jamie Jordan, is based on a poem by Ilya Kaminsky and acts as a meditation on the composer’s family history, especially his grandmother’s escape from Ukraine after the massacre in her town during the 1919 pandemic. Recah Pecahan was composed for Talujon in 2024 by Dewa Alit, a musician at the forefront of Balinese gamelan who is widely regarded as the leading Indonesian composer of his generation. Composer Paula Matthusen joins Talujon and Jamie Jordan for her work featuring live electronics, percussion, and voice, and student musicians from the Williams Percussion Ensemble premiere Jacob Fanto’s ‘25 Rain Shadow.
Mathew Rosenblum – We Lived Happily During the War (2021)
Paula Matthusen – The Days are Nouns (2013)
Dewa Alit – Recah Pecahan (2024)
Ileana Perez Velázquez – On the Pulse of Morning (2024) World Premiere
Plus guest appearance by members of the Williams Percussion Ensemble performing the world premiere of Rain Shadow by Jacob Fanto ‘25.
ABOUT TALUJON
Described by The New York Times as possessing an “edgy, unflagging energy”, Talujon has committed itself to the growth of contemporary percussion music through diverse performance, commissioning, educational, and outreach activities. Talujon is composed of percussionists Ian Antonio, Caitlin Cawley, David Cossin, Matthew Gold, Tom Kolor, Michael Lipsey, and Matt Ward.
Highlights of Talujon’s recent engagements include appearances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, Bang on a Can’s Marathon and Long Play Festivals, Carnegie Hall, ISSUE Project Room, Roulette, Miller Theatre, and New York Historical Society. International performances include Taipei’s Lantern Festival and Italy’s Sound Res Festival. In addition to its diverse performance schedule, Talujon has conducted residencies, clinics, and master classes at institutions across the US. Collaborators include Dewa Alit, Nick Brooke, Victoria Cheah, Franz Nicolay, Chien Yin Chen, Alvin Lucier, Paula Matthusen, Eric Moe, Mathew Rosenblum, Ralph Shapey, Henry Threadgill, Ushio Torikai, Amy Williams, Julia Wolfe, and Christian Wolff.
Talujon partners with New York City Public Schools and the Midori and Friends organization to produce educational programming across New York City’s five boroughs. The ensemble’s playing can be heard on the Cantaloupe, Tzadik, Unseen Worlds, Another Timbre, New World, Bridge, Albany, and Capstone record labels.
More about TALUJON
Full video of Talujon’s recording for Cantaloupe Music: We Lived Happily During the War
Talujon is presented by the Williams College Department of Music with the generous support of the W. Ford Schumann ’50 Performing Arts Endowment.
Photo Credit: Erika Kapin
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