The Southern Exposure New Music Series will open its 2004–05 season with the dynamic So Percussion ensemble from New York City. The concert, which is free and open to the public, will be at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22 in the School of Music Recital Hall.

On their Web site, sopercussoin.com, members describe their goal: “Percussion has a unique ability to thrill and captivate. Its expressive possibilities range far beyond beats and rhythms, speaking to the impact of sound on our very lives. A So performance seeks to convey this impact. From the pure joy of drumming to the strange beauty of everyday objects, audiences are uniquely moved and entertained by this total immersion in sound and imagination. So is a form of the Japanese verb meaning ‘to play.’ For us, it means sharing the joy and spirit of music making whenever we can!”

So Percussion, made up of Douglas Perkins, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Lawson White, formed in New Haven, Conn., in 1999 and has been featured at the Bang on a Can Marathon, the BAM Next Wave Festival, and WNYC's New Sounds and Soundcheck in New York. The group received the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Adventurous Programming award

So Percussion’s educational initiatives have resulted in residencies at the University of Texas at Austin, Princeton University, Duke University, Williams College, King's College, and performances with the Harvard Group for New Music and Columbia Composers. From 2004 to 2005, So Percussion will be the ensemble in residence at The Yellow Barn in Putney, Vt., participating in both the summer festival and a year-round outreach project. The group’s self-titled debut album is available on Cantaloupe Music.

For their Southern Exposure concert, So Percussion will begin with "Shifty,” by Dennis DeSantis, who dreamed of rock ’n’ roll stardom growing up in Michigan, has written popular music as a drummer and techno DM, and also writes complex compositions for the concert hall. “Shifty” is a musical representation of these worlds colliding. Written in 2000, “Shifty” was the first piece ever commissioned by So Percussion.

Following "A vida é täo rara" ("life is so strange"), by Suzanne Farrin, So Percussion will perform "Percussion Quartet" (2003), by Melanie Schoenberg. Part of the Columbia Composers project, the work is based on the most elemental of musical materials: the major chord.

The first half of the program will end with Steve Reich’s “Drumming, Part 1” (1971). "Drumming" introduces the new technique of gradually substituting beats for rests (or rests for beats) within a constantly repeating rhythmic cycle.

After the intermission, So Percussion will perform David Lang’s “the so-called laws of nature.” The work grew out of the composer’s study of mathematics, chemistry, and physics as an undergraduate. The percussionists play identical patterns throughout, playing unison rhythms on subtly different instruments, most of which the performers are required to build themselves.

11/04