NEXUS
Bob Becker, Bill Cahn, Robin Engelman, Russell Hartenberger, Garry Kvistad
Performs Minimalist Classics
At the ‘Cool Drummings’ Festival
Toronto – May 23, 2008
Since the ensemble’s first concert in 1971 NEXUS, the Toronto-based percussion quintet, has participated in many international music festivals around the world. NEXUS has been credited with extending the modern percussion ensemble’s spectrum of possibilities in solo recitals and with symphony orchestras worldwide, captivating audiences with an eclectic mix of music that includes contemporary percussion masterworks, novelty ragtime arrangements, world music, group improvisations and compositions by the members of NEXUS themselves.
The NEXUS program at Toronto’s ‘Cool Drummings’ International Percussion Festival and Conference on May 23, 2008 included minimalist works by John Cage, Steve Reich and Terry Riley. In over three decades of NEXUS performances worldwide, the group has repeatedly worked with John Cage and Steve Reich. Among the most notable of these collaborations were a NEXUS performance at Cage’s 70th birthday ˜happening’ called, ‘Musicircus,’ in Los Angeles on September 12, 1987, and a NEXUS world premiere performance of Steve Reich’s ‘Music for Percussion & Keyboards‘ as part of the 1984 ‘Forum des Percussions’ at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
The works performed by NEXUS were:
Amores (1943) by John Cage
Proverb (1995) by Steve Reich
First Construction (in Metal) (1939) by John Cage
In C (1964) by Terry Riley
The future of music will be secure as long as musicians with the
originality, power and skill of Nexus continue to exist.”
– Robert Harris in The (Toronto) Globe and Mail
“[NEXUS] . . . The panache of virtuosity, stamina, more than a
hint of poetry and an infectious delight in their music making.” – The Australian
NEXUS thanks the Pearl Corporation and Adams Musical Instruments for their support worldwide
