SPCO's Liquid Music Series to Present Third Coast Percussion and Glenn Kotche, 10/5-6

On Sunday, October 5 and Monday, October 6, at the Music Room at the SPCO Center, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music Series presents Wilco drummer and experimental composer Glenn Kotche alongside innovative percussion ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, spotlighting one of the first performances of a Liquid Music and University of Notre Dame co-commission. These performances will also mark the opening of the Liquid Music Series' 2014-15 season.

Glenn Kotche, whose music has been celebrated as "colorful and infectiously rhythmic" by WQXR, will introduce Wild Sound, an expansive new piece written for Third Coast Percussion that sees the onstage construction and destruction of instruments custom-designed by Kotche and University of Notre Dame engineers. Incorporating found recordings from Kotche's travels around the world, the piece is a sonic investigation into everyday life and our propensity to create and destroy. David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and Sean Connors make up the versatile quartet that will perform Kotche's singular work.

The first half of the program will feature Kotche's arrangements of music by legendary minimalist composer and pioneer of contemporary percussion music, Steve Reich. In addition, Kotche's earlier compositions, praised for their "warm and wide open sound," (PopMatters) will be performed by Third Coast Percussion and Kotche himself. On stage Kotche will join his "unfailing taste, technique and discipline" (Chicago Tribune) with Third Coast Percussion's, "technical precision, palpable groove and outstanding sound," (Time Out New York) to breathe life into his and Reich's arresting compositions.

David Skidmore of Third Coast Percussion commented: "We are so excited to be the season opener for SPCO's Liquid Music Series this year. The project we are presenting will feature all custom-made instruments which are built on stage, performed with on stage, then destroyed on stage. The live music is coupled with projections from exciting young video artist, Xuan, and a pre-recorded audio track drawn from field recordings Kotche has captured while on tour around the world. It's a project on a huge scale, and we can't wait to bring it to the Twin Cities!"

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