Metal, Shooting Stars and Sambas

HSU Percussion Ensemble mines metal and the HSU World Percussion Group plays prize-winning sambas in their shared concert on Sunday April 15 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

The Percussion Ensemble performs “First Construction in Metal” by John Cage, which calls for some 58 different metal percussion instruments, including anvils and thunder sheets. “Many consider this piece to be Cage’s finest early work,” notes Ensemble director Eugene Novotney.

The Ensemble also plays works by Michael Udow and John Bergamo, and “The Night of the Shooting Stars,” a piece for 16 percussionists by American composer Wendy Mae Chambers.

In the concert’s second half, the World Percussion Group performs a suite of West African Mandeng drumming, followed by sambas using all indigenous instruments from Brazil. The set includes the prize-winning arrangement of “Amazonas, O Eldorado” as performed by Escola de Samba.

HSU Percussion Ensemble and World Percussion Group perform on Sunday April 15 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Directed by Eugene Novotney and Howard Kaufman, produced by the HSU Music Department.

Media: North Coast Journal, Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, Tri-City Weekly.