Percussion Ensemble to Present Fall Semester Concert Sunday

"Drums of Winter" is the title of the fall semester concert to be presented at 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, by the Illinois State University Percussion Ensemble.  Admission to the event, which will be in Kemp Recital Hall, is free and open to the public.

According to School of Music Associate Professor David Collier, director of the ensemble, the concert will focus on the pulsating rhythms of smaller chamber ensembles.  The program will include "Raptures of Undream" by Bruce Hamilton and "Drums of Winter" by John Luther Adams.  Both of these chamber works explore the interweaving rhythmic intricacies that are possible between performers with a small number of percussion instruments.

The influence of North Indian music is evident in the piece "MUDRA" by Bob Becker.  This chamber work will feature Collier as drum soloist with the ensemble in a work originally composed for the dance UrbhanaMudra by choreographer Joan Phillips.

The program also will include "KOTRAB" by Richard Kvistad, "Sonatina" by Fisher Tull and "Identity Crisis" by Michael Aukofer.  KOTRAB is rhythmic work based on the material from Belá Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra. Aukofer's "Identity Crisis" is a recent work for percussion ensemble that sonically explores some of life's daily challenges.