2022-23 SEASON
November 8, 2022
7:30 PM
Concert Hall
Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion combine forces for a powerful new original set of songs composed together. Shaw’s faultless ear for melody and harmony, combined with Sō’s rhythmic invention and compositional experimentation, make for a world of sonic richness that feels fresh and unique. It is a journey across the landscape of the soul, told through the medium of distinctly contemporary songs which represent Shaw’s debut as a solo vocal artist.
Shared lifetimes of voluminous musical and literary experiences traverse the spiritual realms of the Sacred Harp and the Book of Ruth; the oceanic ruminations of James Joyce; the American roots song I’ll Fly Away filtered through medieval plainchant; and even the pop group ABBA. Sonically, there is no other collaboration to compare it to. Shaw’s voices cycles through the gently intimate, to penetrating rapture, through layers of constructed counterpoint, while Sō Percussion’s nearly endless menagerie of instruments and techniques provides varying accompaniments of drums, piano, marimba, steel drums, electronics, tuned flower pots, toys, synthesizers, and much more.
The thrill in this collaboration lies partly in the sense that each entity adds dimensions to the other’s music which revitalizes them both. Shaw gives voice and melody to the years of experimentation in rhythm, color, and complexity which defines Sō’s work over two decades and more than twenty albums. Sō opens a world of sonic possibilities and rhythmic virtuosity which dramatically expands Shaw’s palette beyond the vocal and string writing which she is best known for.
In this collection of ten songs, forces alternate between tightly crafted orchestrations and spontaneous duets between Shaw and each of the four members of So Percussion. The title song of the set features Shaw’s unadorned voice setting her own words, accompanied by Josh Quillen’s lyrical strumming on the steel drums. In Lay All Your Love On Me, Shaw and Adam Sliwinski concoct a stately motet for voice and marimba out of the chorus from ABBA’s famous hit song. In Long Ago We Counted, Jason Treuting unleashes cascades of his signature drumming underneath otherworldly loops of Shaw’s voice. With Some Bright Morning, Eric Cha-Beach simmers various layers of ambient drones under Shaw’s gradually unfolding synthesis of I’ll Fly Away and the 13th-Century plainchant Salve Regina.
Other songs build layers of instrumentation as blocks of rhythm and sound underneath Shaw’s voice. Find the Line announces itself with a progression of flower pot harmony, which builds surprisingly into an uplifting, anthemic celebration of life and devotion. Two songs take their titles from lines in James Joyce’s Ulysses: the Flood is Following Me, and A Veil Upon the Waves. Both are thick with layers of ambivalence and reflection. Soon our Transient Comforts Fly builds interlocking rhythms reminiscent of Steve Reich, which Shaw elevates with a yawp of spiritual ecstasy from the Sacred Harp tradition.
For twenty years and counting, Sō Percussion has redefined chamber music for the 21st century through an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (The New Yorker). They are celebrated by audiences and presenters for a dazzling range of work: for live performances in which “telepathic powers of communication” (The New York Times) bring to life the vibrant percussion repertoire; for an extravagant array of collaborations in classical music, pop, indie rock, contemporary dance, and theater; and for their work in education and community, creating opportunities and platforms for music and artists that explore the immense possibility of art in our time.
Recent highlights have included performances at the Elbphilharmonie, Big Ears 2022 – where they performed Amid the Noise, premiered a new work by Angélica Negrón with the Kronos Quartet, and performed their Nonesuch album with Caroline Shaw, Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part – and a return to Carnegie Hall where they performed new collaborations with Nathalie Joachim, and Dominic Shodekeh Talifero. Their Nonesuch recording, Narrow Sea, with Caroline Shaw, Dawn Upshaw, and Gilbert Kalish, won the 2022 Grammy for Best Composition. Other albums include A Record Of.. on Brassland Music with Buke and Gase, and an acclaimed version of Julius Eastman’s Stay On It on new imprint Sō Percussion Editions. This adds to a catalogue of more than twenty-five albums featuring landmark recordings of works by David Lang, Steve Reich, Steve Mackey, and many more.
In the Summer of 2022, Sō performs at the Music Academy of the West Festival, Newport Classical, at Time Spans in New York, and offers four concerts at Our Festival in Helsinki – including a performance of Let the Soil with Caroline Shaw. Other 22/23 dates include concerts for Cal Performances, at the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, at the Barbican in London, the Kennedy Center, and at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
In Fall 2022, Sō Percussion begins its ninth year as the Edward T. Cone performers-in-residence at Princeton University. Rooted in the belief that music is an elemental form of human communication, and galvanized by forces for social change in recent years, Sō enthusiastically pursues a range of social and community outreach through their nonprofit organization, including partnerships with local ensembles including Pan in Motion and Castle of Our Skins; their Brooklyn Bound concert series; a studio residency program in Brooklyn; and the Sō Percussion Summer Institute, an intensive two-week chamber music seminar for percussionists and composers.
Sō Percussion – is Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting.
Caroline Shaw is a New York-based musician—vocalist, violinist, composer, and producer—who performs in solo and collaborative projects. She was the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 for Partita for 8 Voices, written for the Grammy-winning Roomful of Teeth, of which she is a member. Recent commissions include new works for Renée Fleming with Inon Barnatan, Dawn Upshaw with Sō Percussion and Gil Kalish, Seattle Symphony, Anne Sofie von Otter with Philharmonia Baroque, the LA Philharmonic, Juilliard 415, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s with John Lithgow, the Dover Quartet, TENET, The Crossing, the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, the Calidore Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, the Baltimore Symphony, and Roomful of Teeth with A Far Cry. Caroline’s film scores include Erica Fae’s To Keep the Light and Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline as well as the upcoming short 8th Year of the Emergency by Maureen Towey. She has produced for Kanye West (The Life of Pablo; Ye) and Nas (NASIR), and has contributed to records by The National, and by Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry. Once she got to sing in three part harmony with Sara Bareilles and Ben Folds at the Kennedy Center, and that was pretty much the bees’ knees and elbows. Caroline has studied at Rice, Yale, and Princeton, currently teaches at NYU, and is a Creative Associate at the Juilliard School. She has held residencies at Dumbarton Oaks, the Banff Centre, Music on Main, and the Vail Dance Festival. Caroline loves the color yellow, otters, Beethoven opus 74, Mozart opera, Kinhaven, the smell of rosemary, and the sound of a janky mandolin.
Sō Percussion’s 2022-2023 season is supported in part by awards from:
The National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov • The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature • The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council • The Aaron Copland Fund for Music • The Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University • The Amphion Foundation • The Brookby Foundation • The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation • The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation • The Howard Gilman Foundation • The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Sō Percussion uses Vic Firth sticks, Zildjian cymbals, Remo drumheads, Estey Organs, and Pearl/Adams instruments. Sō Percussion would like to thank these companies for their generous support and donations.
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Dean, School of the Arts
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