So Percussion begins the spring concert season

With innovative multi-genre original productions, sensational interpretations of modern works, more than 20 albums, and an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam,” Sō Percussion has redefined the scope and role of the modern percussion ensemble.

Sō Percussion kicks off the spring season with a concert on April 13 at the Oats Park Art Center. In addition to the center beginning a 8 p.m., a free conversation with the artists is at 3 p.m.

The box office, Art Bar and galleries open at 7 p.m., with the performance beginning one hour later.

Tickets are $17 for members, $20 for nonmembers. Tickets are available at Jeff’s Copy Express, ITT at Naval Air Station Fallon or call the Churchill Arts Center at 775-423-1440.

Their repertoire ranges from “classics” of the 20th century to commissioning and advocating works by contemporary composers such as David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Steve Mackey, and Caroline Shaw, to distinctively modern collaborations with artists who work outside the classical concert hall, including Shara Nova, the electronic duo Matmos, the choreographer Susan Marshall, Wilco’s Glenn Kotche, Bryce Dessner, and many others.

Sō Percussion also composes and performs their own works, ranging from standard concert pieces to immersive multi-genre programs – including From “Out A Darker Sea,” “Imaginary City,” “Where (we) Live” and “A Gun Show,” which was presented in a multi-performance presentation as part of BAM’s 2016 Next Wave Festival.

In these concert-length programs, Sō Percussion employs a distinctively 21st century synthesis of original music, artistic collaboration, theatrical production values and visual art, into a powerful exploration of their own unique and personal creative experiences.

Reviews have been positive:

“Through a mix of consummate skill and quirky charm, this mercurial quartet has helped to ignite an explosive new enthusiasm for percussion music old and new.” –The New York Times

“The evening was an exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam…” – The New Yorker

“This group plays with an irresistible vitality.” — The Washington Post

“If percussionists are, as proclaimed elsewhere, the new princes of the realm of virtuosity, then these four young, steel-wristed, Brooklyn-based Yale graduates wear the crown with panache.” – The Financial Times

“A marvelous program…crisply sensitive performances…” – San Francisco Chronicle