FEELING THE PULSE Spring touring took us to California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, the Episcopal Collegiate School in Little Rock AR, La Grange College GA and Wittenberg University OH. We opened each with Music For Pieces Of Wood, and we had guests provide “the pulse”: Dave Johnson, Eric Saoud, Ken Passmore and Marc Smarelli… Read more »
AN ALL-TIMPANI PROGRAM In early March 2011, we participated in two exciting programs. David Kent (timpanist with the Toronto Symphony) joined us a guest artist in an unusual program of timpani works. Together, we premiered Bill Cahn’s new piece “Night Ride” and played his Raga No. 1. Along with the Philidor “Marche de timbales”, Elliott… Read more »
LUMINOUS ACOUSTICS In July 2010 we returned to Garry Kvistad’s “Woodstock Beat” event at Maverick Hall just outside Woodstock NY. We were joined by Sō Percussion and Steve Reich as we had been in 2008 at the Ojai Festival in California. The occasion was the 40th anniversary of the writing of Reich’s “Drumming”. We too… Read more »
MORE ABOUT TALKING DRUMS First a quick flashback to 2008 – some more details about Russell Hartenbergers’s Talking Drum Symposim. He says, “I organized a “Talking Drum Symposium” which was sponsored by the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto. The featured guests were John Miller Chernoff, author of “African Rhythm and African Sensibility,”… Read more »
DANCE MUSIC FOR ELFRID IDE HERE is a radio show aired of Garry and Russell in conversation with Laura Kuhn, Exec.Dir. of the John Cage Trust at Bard College. They had fun talking about Cage and sundry related topics. You will also hear 2 movements of our recording of Cage’s Dance Music for Elfrid Ide,… Read more »
New Release! The latest Canadian Brass album, “Canadiana”. The title says it all. This is an album that celebrates exceptional Canadian song-makers. Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is here along with works from popular artists Joni Mitchell, Drake, Daniel Caesar, Shawn Mendes, Rush, Deadmau5, k.d.lang, Lara Fabian, and Bruce Cockburn. Bill was invited by the Brass to… Read more »
At this month’s Percussive Arts Society International Conference in Indianapolis, Garry Kvistad and Russell Hartenberger received high honours. Russell received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Education, and Garry was inducted into the PAS Percussion Hall of Fame. Russell actually received the honour in 2020, along with co-recipients F.Michael Combs and William Moersch. But due to… Read more »
TIKI TIME AND MOZART We opened the inaugural season of the Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival (TSMAF) in Summer ’06 with four world premieres! Following its recent preview, Bill Cahn had been able to put the finishing touches on his new work “Night Ride” so it received its official premiere here. The piece was… Read more »
Facilitated by Bill Cahn Click here to download the “Creative Music Making” Handout Sheet
THE ABILITY TO BREATHE TOGETHER We were honoured to have our Drumtalker album nominated for a Juno, the Canadian equivalent of the Brit Awards of Great Britain or the Grammy Awards in the USA. The reviews were in: Payton MacDonald (American Record Guide) said, “Nexus remains one of the great percussion groups in the world…. Read more »
A KID IN A CANDY STORE: ELLEN TAAFFE ZWILICH In March 2002 Ellen Taaffe Zwilich agreed to write a piece for NEXUS and chamber orchestra. We premiered the new work, “Rituals”, at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre in Tennessee with the IRIS Orchestra under Michael Stern in March 2004. Zwilich said that working with our… Read more »
In 1993 The Esprit Orchestra commissioned the distinguished Canadian composer Bruce Mather to write a concerto to feature the five members of NEXUS (Bob Becker, Bill Cahn, Robin Engelman, Russ Hartenberger and John Wyre). Mather’s piece, Tallbrem Variations, was completed in 1994 and premiered by NEXUS and Esprit (Alex Pauk conducting) on March 29, 1996… Read more »
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION In 2003 we commissioned a new work from the distinguished Canadian composer Christos Hatzis, thanks to a Laidlaw Foundation grant. We premiered his piece “Four rituals for Percussion Quintet, Chorus and Audience in Dec.2004 in Toronto, and you can hear a 2005 performance at the Baie des Chaleurs Chamber Music Festival in Dalhousie,… Read more »
When an unexpected email arrived from a student I had met only one time two-years earlier. Here was the student’s question: “For my music course, we have a unit called “Experimenting with Music”, which contains exploration and composition using a variety of musical instrumentation, techniques, or theories. I am amazed by how you and contemporary… Read more »
