Dear friends,
Happy New Year! After a few weeks of rest and relaxation, we’re kicking off 2025 with some really exciting events and collaborations.
We woke up to some exciting news this morning. The Oscar nominations were announced today, including nominations for The Wild Robot in 3 categories — Best Animated Feature, Best Original Score, and Best Sound. The Wild Robot is back in theaters for a limited time, so grab your friends, grab some popcorn, and enjoy!
At the end of January, we’re heading to San Francisco to perform Seven Pillars for an audience of new ears. This will be our first time performing Akiho’s monumental work in San Francisco, and this will mark our first Seven Pillars performance of 2025! To round out our time in San Francisco, we’ll join the Del Sol Quartet to perform Carla Kihlstedt’s 26 Little Deaths. This work was inspired by Edward Gorey’s The Gashlycrumb Tinies and the incomparable composer/singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane will be conducting us.
The following week, we’ll travel to Houston, Texas for a three day residency at Rice University to work with the percussion studio and collaborate with composition students at the Shepherd School of Music. On February 7th, we’ll present a performance of Michael Torke’s new work for percussion quartet, BLOOM, at Alice Pratt Brown Hall.
On the 12th, we’ll spend a day at the Yale Schwarzman Center for a public CD release party for a new album we’re releasing with Christopher Cerrone on February 21st. We’ll perform some works we’ve commissioned from Chris including A Natural History of Vacant Lots and Ode to Joy, and this will be a taste of the upcoming album we’ll release through PENTATONE Records. We’re thrilled to perform music by one of our closest friends (at the place where we attended school together!).
At the end of February, we’re joining forces with Tyshawn Sorey and his trio to honor the late great percussionist and band leader, Max Roach, at the 92nd Street Y. Here, both bands will perform individual sets highlighting Roach’s impact across musical worlds. To end the evening, we’ll join the Tyshawn Sorey Trio on stage to perform the New York premiere of Sorey’s Cogitations– a through-composed multi-movement piece paying tribute to Roach’s groundbreaking M’Boom ensemble.
It’s just the beginning of 2025, but we’re already looking forward to our annual percussion seminar that will take place July 16th to the 22nd at The New School. To honor our 10th annual Sandbox Percussion Seminar, we’re performing the entirety of Andy Akiho’s Seven Pillars alongside our participants. Andy will join us for the week to coach students, present masterclasses, and guide us as we dive deeper into this music than ever before. Applications for the 2025 Sandbox Percussion Seminar are live! If you or someone you know may be interested in joining us for an unforgettable week this summer, take a look at our website for more information, or apply here.
As always, thanks for reading!
Ian, Jonny, Terry, and Victor