Sō Percussion at UCA
A Sō Percussion residency at UCA would be educational, engaging, and inspiring for our students. Students would work with Sō in a masterclass setting, and the concert concluding the residency would feature a performance of Jason Trueting’s work Amid the Noise. This would allow our students to work closely with the members of Sō Percussion in rehearsal and to perform with them on the evening concert. Because the piece includes parts for winds, strings, voice, and piano, students from outside the UCA Percussion Studio will be able to share this inspirational experience.
The concert would coincide with the UCA Percussion Festival which, in 2026, will be celebrating 25 years of bringing inspiring performers, educators, and composers to UCA. The festival draws students and teachers from around the state (and often from surrounding states) to learn from nationally and internationally recognized percussionists in the jazz, rock, classical, and world music genres. Sō Percussion’s repertoire and experiences pull together all of those genres and would be an incredible way to tie together 25 years of the festival into one amazing concert.
The concert would also be a part of the 2025-26 Windgate Collection series at UCA.
About Sō
Sō Percussion is a quartet of internationally recognized musicians who have collaborated with today’s most interesting composers and performers across diverse musical genres. They are also educators who are committed to sharing their knowledge and passion with younger generations. Each summer, they host the Sō Summer Institute (SoSI) at Princeton University, bringing together students who play and write music with some of the most respected and creative composers and performers of the 21st century. They curate an ongoing concert series at Sō Laboratories (their Brooklyn studio) featuring emerging performers and composers, and they are the Edward T. Cone Performers-in-Residence at Princeton University.
Below are works created for SōPercussion by Caroline Shaw, Dominic Shodekeh Talifero, Angelica Negron, Nathalie Joachim, and Bryce Dessner. There is also a recording of Amid the Noise by Jason Trueting, the piece that would be the final piece on Sō Percussion’s evening concert.
UCA Percussion Festival
Speaking of pulling things together…
The spring of 2026 will be the 20th anniversary of Sō Percussion’s first visit to UCA. During the fifth UCA Percussion Festival, they gave a complete performance of Steve Reich’s Drumming with the UCA Percussion Ensemble. They also performed Reich’s Music for Pieces of Wood with festival guest artist John Beck, the professor of percussion at the Eastman School of Music.
