Panorama is the major steel band competition in the world! So Percussion will be appearing with the Skiffle Steel Orchestra in the large band finals.

Beginning with the 2019-2020 season, Sō Percussion is piloting a new International Residency program. We will travel to countries with rich percussion traditions in order to learn more about their work, participate in music-making, and expand global awareness of the accomplishments and unique cultural contributions of those artists. We will also conduct educational programs about our own work, culminating in side-by-side collaborative performances. In some cases, our residency will produce newly commissioned work for Sō from one of the artists.

In our first year of the initiative, Sō will travel to Trinidad in February 2020 during Carnival season. The members of Sō will perform as part of the Skiffle Steel Orchestra during Panorama, a national performance event in San Fernando organized by Pan Trinbago. We will also work with Mia Gormandy-Benjamin’s students at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, teaching and performing Jason Treuting’s Amid the Noise as part of an educational residency. Finally, we are commissioning a new work for Sō Percussion from Kendall Williams, an American composer of Trinidadian ancestry.

Our hope is to grow the International Residency into a long-term cornerstone of Sō Percussion’s annual programing, with prospective future locations possibly including Bali and Ghana.