UW Percussion Ensemble: Ionisation

Edgard Varèse — Ionisation
Amadeo Roldán — Ritmicas
James Tenney — Selected works
Gabriela Lena Frank — Selected works
Nicholas Hubbell — Selected works
Edgard Varèse — Ionisation

The UW Percussion Ensemble (Bonnie Whiting, director) explores early 1930s percussion repertoire in its program Ionisation, reimagining Edgard Varèse's iconic early percussion work with the Afrocubanismo pioneer Amadeo Roldán's Ritmicas, as well as music by James Tenney, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Nick Hubble.

Amadeo Roldán's Ritmicas from 1930 are devoted to the exploration and manipulation of rhythmic patterns indigenous to his Cuban culture. These gems of the early percussion repertoire play with time and tone color in surprising ways, and they predate Varèse's iconic early percussion ensemble work, Ionisation by nine months. Roldán and Varèse exchanged ideas as part of their partnership in the Pan American Association of Composers, and Varèse's work coincides with receiving a package from Roldán containing not only the score and parts to Ritmicas 5 and 6, but also some some of the Cuban instruments needed to play it: all of which also ended up in Varèse's score! We'll present Ionisation twice: one at the beginning, and once at the end of the performance, once listeners have heard the Roldan as well as James Tenney's exploration of the main theme in Ionisation, and works by Gabriela Lena Frank and Nick Hubbel.

About UW Percussion Ensemble

The University of Washington Percussion Ensemble is comprised of graduate and undergraduate percussionists, and it is open to music majors, music minors, and other members of the UW community. This group performs a wide range of music, encompassing world premieres, group improvisation, and historic works for percussion ensemble. The UWPE has performed at the Northwest Percussion Festival, and at outreach events in the Seattle area, such as an interactive performance for Tent City 3 residents, on the Wayward Series, and at the 2017 NUMUS Northwest Festival.

https://music.washington.edu/ensembles/percussion-ensemble