June 21: Sō Laboratories Summer Solstice! Curated by Aaron Edgcomb plus Angela Morris + Lester St Louis

For the next installment of Sō Percussion’s freewheeling series of mind-bending loft concerts, beloved Sō intern, composer, drummer Aaron Edgcomb takes the reigns with new compositions of his own and a set by Angela Morris and Lester St. Louis. a smashing show on Thursday, May 25 at our festive loft rehearsal-space by the Brooklyn Navy Yard at 20 Grand Ave. Come drink beer or wine. Stay for the music, and maybe longer for the vibes. Sō Laboratories is always “suggested donation” only. From 7:30 pm til whenever!

For more info: tim@sopercussion.com

May 25: Sō Laboratories at 20 Grand – Curated by McKenzie Squires!

 

For the next installment of Sō Percussion’s freewheeling series of mind-bending loft concerts, Sō intern McKenzie Squires steps up to the plate to produce a smashing show on Thursday, May 25 at our festive loft rehearsal-space by the Brooklyn Navy Yard at 20 Grand Ave. Come drink seltzer, beer, maybe moonshine. Stay for the music, and maybe longer for the vibes. Sō Laboratories is always “suggested donation” only. From 7:30 pm til whenever!

On the bill, McKenzie duo folx with collaborator Kendall Rhymer.

Plus special guests:

Abigail Rodriguez

Pei Hsien Lu

Shelby Blezinger-McCay

Sachi Gullbrants

Apr 8: Steel Pan Extravaganza in BK! Don’t Miss Sō, Pan In Motion, PESO & world premiere by Kendall K. Williams

 

Join Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra, Pan in Motion Steel Orchestra, Kendall K Williams, and Sō Percussion for an evening of steel and percussion at the Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center in Brooklyn (1561 Bedford Ave).
$10 suggested donation
There will be food and drinks, Tyler Cohen, a discussion with Dr. Dawn Batson and more!

You may have heard of the Park Avenue Armory, but have you been to the Brooklyn Armory? It’s recently renovated as a multi-use community space and gymnasium, and we promise a night to remember – right down from the Brooklyn Museum. FROM ALL OF US: THIS SHOW IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED AND WE GUARANTEE A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME GOOD TIME!

 

Sō in Boston with Shodekeh! March 29!!

Boston March 29

It’s all about the beat.

With beatboxer and voice artist Dominc “Shodekeh” Talifero, we’ve developed his Vodalities: Paradigms of Consciousness for the Human Voice. Come dig the Boston premiere of this stunning new collaboration at the fabulous Crystal Ballroom in Somerville! Part of the legendary Celebrity Series of Boston.

Angélica Negrón: gone (6′)

Bryce Dessner: Music for Wood and Strings (22′)

INTERMISSION

Pauline Oliveros: Rolling Meditation ~5′

Jason Treuting: Extremes  4′

Dominic Shodekeh Talifero: Vodalities: Paradigms of Consciousness for the Human Voice (18′)

 

Apply to the Sō Percussion Summer Institute, July 16-30, 2023!

From now until March 1, we are opening applications to the Sō Percussion Summer Institute (SōSI!), where for two weeks in July, (our 15th anniversary) professional-track composers and performers come together to study, experiment, collaborate, and perform, led by the members of Sō Percussion, composition faculty Andrea Mazzariello and Sarah Kirkland Snider, a diverse array of guest artists, Princeton faculty, and other special guests.

Contact us with your questions, and apply here!

Sō hosts Brooklyn Bound at The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Feb 11 with Olivier Tarpaga and Nomon

Join Sō + Nomon + Olivier Tarpaga for a special Brooklyn Bound at BKCM!! For tickets — which are pay-as-you-wish, suggested $20 — visit https://bkcm.org

 

Shayna and Nava Dunkelman are musicians and percussionists currently based in Brooklyn, NY. After spending years apart working on their own unique voices, they came together in 2018 to form NOMON.
Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan to an Indonesian mother and an American father, the sisters became multi-instrumentalists performing alongside their mother, a musician and composer active in Asia and the Middle East.
They are strongly drawn to the dance-like movements and flow of playing percussion. It is as visual as it is aural. The trajectory of the hands and sticks, the shift of body weight, the eyes aiming to strike – The physicality of the performance has a choreographic quality as it is. The body follows a sequence of movements when immersed in playing the array of percussive instruments surrounding it.
The music lives in the intersection of electronic soundscapes and intricately composed percussion parts. They combine drum machines, vocal samples, synth melodies and modular synthesizers triggered by analog sensors with carefully chosen percussion sounds to create a cohesive interweaving of the electronic and acoustic elements. The seamless blend of the two worlds is essential to their music.
When composing, they are inspired by industrial music, avant-garde percussion improvisation, rhythms and sounds from their cultural background (Japan and Indonesia) and contemporary electronic music that incorporates voices instrumentally.
In addition to solo performances, Shayna toured with Pulitzer Award-Winning and Grammy-nominated composer Du Yun, Balún, Ali Sethi Grammy Award-winning ensemble Attacca Quartet among others. Nava is a member of electro-percussion experimental noise duo IMA, and has performed or collaborated with Fred Frith, John Zorn, William Winant, Ikue Mori, Brandon Seabrook, Angélica Negrón, Pauchi Sasaki, and gabby fluke-mogul and many others.
For more about NOMON music visit https://www.shaynadunkelmanmusic.com/nomon

Olivier Tarpaga (USA/Burkina Faso), is a Lester Horton Award-winning choreographer/director of the African Music Ensembles of Princeton University. Tarpaga has performed and taught music and dance regularly in more than 50 countries throughout Africa, Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania.
Tarpaga’s music and dance works have been described as “unforgettable” by Los Angeles Times and “extraordinary” by The New York Times. His major works include Once the dust settles, flowers bloom (2023) When Birds Refused to Fly (2019), Declassified Memory Fragment (2015), Not Because You’re African (2010), Disorder Inside Order (2008), Sira Kan (2007), and Tin Suka (2001). His commissioned works include Only One Will Rise (2022) for the Limon Company, Wind of Nomads (2017) for Malaysia’s internationally renowned HANDS Percussion, Resist-Resurge: Traces of Hope for Maya Dance Theater of Singapore, and The way of sands (2012) for the Temple of Fine Arts in Perth, Australia.

Born in Kaya, Burkina Faso, Tarpaga followed in the steps of his father Abdoulaye Richard Tarpaga, co-artistic director of the 1960s Orchestre Super Volta. At the age of sixteen he was selected as an actor, dancer and drummer for Burkina Faso’s acclaimed company “Le Bourgeon du Burkina,” which performed at numerous festivals and theaters throughout Africa, Europe, and South America. Tarpaga is the founder and artistic director of the internationally acclaimed Dafra Drum (1995–present), which plays traditional Manding music, and Dafra Kura Band (2011–present), which plays contemporary African music. He is also a co-founder of Burkina Faso’s internationally acclaimed Compagnie Ta (2000–2004) and Philadelphia-based Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project (2004–present).

Sō Percussion and Caroline Shaw play at 92NY Feb 4, other tour dates

 

We are hitting the road with the spellbinding Caroline Shaw, performing our co-composed song cycle, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part (released by Nonesuch in 2021) throughout the East Coast — and we hope you can join us — most especially for our hometown show in New York City, Feb 4 at 92NY!

Jan 30, 2023 | The Kennedy Center | Fortas Chamber Music Series | Washington, DC

Angelica Negron: gone and go back | Julia Wolfe: Forbidden Love (Kennedy Center co-commission) | Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion: Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part
Tickets and Info

Feb 1, 2023 | Carolina Performing Arts Series | Chapel Hill, NC

Eric Cha-Beach: 4+9 | Angelica Negron: gone and go back | Nathalie Joachim: Note to Self | CarolineShaw and Sō Percussion: Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part
Tickets and Info

Feb 3, 2023 | Penn Live Arts Presents: ListenHear Series | Philadelphia, PA
Caroline Shaw: Taxidermy | Caroline Shaw: Narrow Sea | Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion: Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part
Tickets and Info

Feb 4, 2023 | 92NY | New York, NY
Eric Cha-Beach: 4+9 | Jason Treuting: Go Placidly With Haste | Bora Yoon: the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart | Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion: Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part
Tickets and Info