On Sunday December 2, 2007 at 3PM at the McIntosh Theatre of the University of Michigan, The University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble, directed by Joe Gramley, will present their semester-end concert called American Tradition and Innovation, featuring seminal works that demonstrate the twentieth-century rise of percussion as a chamber-music art as well as the ever-more-global focus of American classical percussion in our time. Along with three works by John Cage and Lou Harrison that brought an array of never-before-heard instruments from around the world to the American stage, the Ensemble will perform a rock etude (co-written by Michigan’s own Michael Udow) that marries American percussion and the modern marimba to a range of vocal traditions spanning several continents. The program is rounded out with two other unique pieces: Steve Reich’s minimalist composition “Six Marimbas” and Charles Griffin’s “The Persistence of Past Chemistries,” written entirely for wood instruments.
PROGRAM: Cage/Harrison – Double Music; Cage – Third Construction;
Harrison – Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra;
Udow/Douglas – Rock Etude No. 7;
Reich – Six Marimbas;
Griffin – The Persistence of Past Chemistries.
Free – no tickets required