I want to remind our Ontario presenters that the Ontario Arts Council is there as a huge help to NEXUS and YOU. The OAC’s Touring Office has helped NEXUS and our Ontario presenters with expenses many times over the years. With the Council’s touring aid NEXUS has been able to visit all parts of the… Read more »
NEXUS member Russell Hartenberger has also been a member of Minimalism and the Music of Steve Reich.
“Raga No. 1” for solo timpani was first published in 1978 by Wimbledon Music, and since then it has been performed by timpanists and percussionists all over the world. It continues to be among the most selected of works in the repertoire for percussion recitals, juries, and competitions. I have occasionally received inquiries about various… Read more »
NEXUS is performing on the evenings of Friday April 3rd in Orangeville Ontario (ticket information here) and Sunday April 5th in downtown Toronto (tickets available here). Choose one, or go to both! Each venue gives plenty of scope for making a day of it. The attractive town of Orangeville offers a spring drive in the… Read more »
Spring is sprung, and the pale green sprouts in my garden tell me it is time for fresh starts. One spring task I always enjoy is the updating of the NEXUS Concert Summary. It is a little booklet that outlines where NEXUS has been over its 38 year history. Let me share some of these… Read more »
One of the wonders of the new digital age is the ability to have live interactive events that are shared by individuals and organizations scattered throughout the world. I first experienced ‘Internet-2‘ two years ago during the Steve Reich 70th birthday year in which I actually had a brief long-distance conversation with Steve – I… Read more »
NEXUS member Garry Kvistad is into chimes. He is the founder and CEO of From me flows what you call Time by Toru Takemitsu. How did this come to be? Allow me to share with you the oft-repeated “landfill lawnchair tale”. In the early 1970s Garry was teaching at Northern Illinois University and while there… Read more »
This week, the American Bandmasters Association has been enjoying its annual convention in College Station, Texas. About a year and a half ago, NEXUS found itself in Tulsa as the featured guest at the Oklahoma Bandmasters convention. NEXUS performed and presented workshops. There are Bandmasters Associations across North America in both the United States and… Read more »
What could bring Zappa, Rubinstein, and a NEXUS premiere together in one blog post? Gordon Stout! Percussionists certainly know Gordon Stout, but some of our presenters may not. Gordon Stout is a percussionist, composer, and educator specializing in the marimba.
NEXUS has always been interested in creating their own instruments and using “found” instruments. At NEXUS concerts perhaps the most noticeable are Garry Kvistad’s sound sculptures. Today I stumbled on Oddmusic.com. Along with the Sea Organ built in Croatia in 2005, and the Symphonic House that is one large musical instrument, I made some fabulous… Read more »
From time to time I will give you a peek into the NEXUS archives. Here are some great excerpts from a 1999 New York Times article by Leslie Kandell entitled A Percussion Ensemble That Keeps Marching to a Different Drummer. It provides a neat snapshot of NEXUS and mentions a couple of pieces that NEXUS… Read more »
NEXUS always has interesting cover art on their CDs. Two of the most striking covers are on the recent Drumtalker and Wings, created by award-winning Canadian artist Bonnie Sheckter.
The following questions were emailed to me by Jim Clanton, who teaches percussion at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, and is finishing his DMA from the UMKC Conservatory. Q. Blades mentions in PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS AND THEIR HISTORY that the marimbaphone was used as a solo instrument by stage artists. Are there any recordings that… Read more »
For those of you who did not make it to PASIC 08, or for those who did and could not attend this event on Friday, the world panel discussion: “Early Pioneers of World Music in the Field of Western Percussion” with John Bergamo, Emil Richards, and me can be viewed in a six-part posting on… Read more »
NEXUS’ most recent CD Wings features a number of songs by NEXUS’ friend Toru Takemitsu who is recognized as one of the world’s great modernists. But Takemitsu also had a great appetite for and vast knowledge of Western popular music and he drew on this in much of his work, creating film, radio, TV and… Read more »
