Third Coast Percussion Soars After Winning Grammy Award
He laughed. “No. I have a tremendous respect for orchestral percussionists. And the friends I know who do that love it. But orchestras are playing primarily music written hundreds of years ago by men who lived in Europe.” He thought a moment and continued, “I like some of that music, but I’m more interested in music that’s being written today by a wide variety of people from all over the world. That variety feels a little more in touch of what it’s like to be alive today. That’s what I find inspiring.”
https://soundcloud.com/third-coast-percussion/peter-martin-bend In reflecting on TCP’s aspirations, Skidmore said, “To continue to reach new audiences is a big thing for us, and that means not just here in the States but also overseas. We’d like to do more international touring, including Europe, Asia, Africa, South America.” Summing it up, he said, “I think that the work that we’ve done so far is indicative of the work that we want to do. We want to continue to champion this music. It will always be new to somebody; it’s such a new art form. If we spent our lives playing concerts for people who have never heard of percussion concerts, that would be enough, that would be a fantastic idea to me.” As Third Coast Percussion gears up for the 2017-18 season, they have several Chicago performances on the horizon. Most anticipated is the world premiere of a new concerto by Augusta Read Thomas: Sonorous Earth. TCP will be performing this with the Chicago Philharmonic, Scott Speck conductor, at the Harris Theater at 3pm on November 12. (Composer Thomas has said that Sonorous Earth was originally inspired by Resounding Earth, but the addition of a full orchestra allowed her to go in new and different directions. It should be excellent either way.)Louis Harris
A lover of music his whole life, Louis Harris has written extensively from the early days of punk and alternative rock. More recently he has focused on classical music, especially chamber ensembles. He has reviewed concerts, festivals, and recordings and has interviewed composers and performers. He has paid special attention to Chicago’s rich and robust contemporary art music scene. He occasionally writes poetry and has a published novel to his credit, 32 Variations on a Theme by Basil II in the Key of Washington, DC. He now lives on the north side of Chicago, which he considers to be the greatest city in the country, if not the world. Member of the Music Critics Association of North America.