Nexus, percussion ensemble

PROGRAM

The first, entirely improvised Nexus concert in 1971 marked the formation of a group that would touch & entertain people of all levels of musical learning, in all genres of percussion music. Bob Becker, Bill Cahn, Russell Hartenberger & Garry Kvistad are virtuosos alone, & bring elements of their knowledge & character to a distinct & powerful whole. They stand out in the contemporary music scene for the innovation & diversity of their programs, their impressive history of collaborations & commissions, their revival of 1920's novelty ragtime xylophone music, & their influential improvisatory ideas. NEXUS' firm commitment to music education & a steady output of quality CD recordings & compositions by its members continues to enhance the role of percussion in the 21st century.

NEXUS' music, with its widespread appeal, has taken the group on tours of Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Brazil, Scandinavia, Europe, & regularly to the United States & Canada. NEXUS is proud to have been the first Western percussion group to perform in the People's Republic of China. They have also enjoyed participating at international music festivals such as the Adelaide, Holland, Budapest Spring, Singapore Arts, Tanglewood, Ravinia, & Blossom Music Festivals, as well as the BBC Proms in London, Music Today & Music Joy festivals in Tokyo, & many World Drum Festivals. NEXUS is the recipient of the Banff Centre for the Arts National Award & the Toronto Arts Award. NEXUS was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1999, just before celebrating their 30th anniversary season.

Especially renowned for their improvisational skills, NEXUS was called upon to create the musical score for the National Film Board's "Inside Time", which won the 2008 Yorkton Golden Sheaf award for best social/political documentary & the 2008 Robert Brooks award for cinematography. TV & radio broadcasters such as the CBS TV, PBS, & CBC have regularly featured this leading percussion ensemble. NEXUS also created the chilling score for the Academy Award-winning feature-length documentary "The Man Who Skied Down Everest". NEXUS' list of high-profile collaborations includes Steve Reich, the Kronos Quartet, the Canadian Brass, & clarinetist Richard Stoltzman.

Toru Takemitsu, a great friend to NEXUS, composed one of their signature pieces, "From me flows what you call Time". This work, written with each NEXUS member's personality in mind, was premiered for Carnegie Hall's centennial celebration in 1990 with Seiji Ozawa conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra (recorded on Sony with the Pacific Symphony). In 2005, Pulitzer Prize winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich composed "Rituals" for NEXUS & Chamber Orchestra. New Music Box calls it "one of Zwilich’s most exciting compositions to date…[a] blockbuster piece!” The recording features NEXUS & the IRIS Orchestra.

In April 2009 NEXUS premiered a new work by marimba virtuoso Gordon Stout and in November 2008 premiered a newly-commissioned concerto by Eric Ewazen for percussion and wind ensemble. This Fall NEXUS enjoyed residencies at Bowling Green State University, and the University of Windsor as well as performances with the Windsor Symphony. Among recent NEXUS events were the 2008 performances at Ojai Festival in California where the L.A.Times music critic commented, "Ojai felt, for that hour, like holy ground." This followed on their 2007 Ojai performances that reviewer Charles Donelan called "thrilling" & said would "certainly stand as one of the most memorable of 2007 in any venue, anywhere". NEXUS has also recently appeared at the Colours of Music, Cool Drummings, Collingwood, Kincardine & the Ottawa Chamber Music Festivals, & at Woodstock Beat in New York. A solo CD entitled "Wings" was released in 2009 & their CD "out of the blue" with Fritz Hauser was released in March 2007. NEXUS' previous solo CD was the Juno-nominated "Drumtalker". In 2007 & 2009 NEXUS honored John Cage at Bard College's Fisher Center in New York, and was asked to give the U.S. premiere of Dance Music for Elfrid Ide (1940), which was rediscovered in 2005. Upcoming events include the April premiere of a new co-commissioned Steve Reich Mallet Quartet; appearances at Brock University and Minnesota Beethoven Festival, tour dates in Japan and New York, and the completion of a new recording of John Cage works with Adrienne Clarkson and others.

www.nexuspercussion.com