GLASS: Perpetulum

CRUMB: Music for a Summer Evening

Third Coast Percussion, Ensemble

Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy-winning, artist-run quartet of classically-trained percussionists hailing from the great city of Chicago. For over ten years, the ensemble has forged a unique path in the musical landscape with virtuosic, energetic performances that celebrate the extraordinary depth and breadth of musical possibilities in the world of percussion. The ensemble has been praised for “commandingly elegant” (New York Times) performances, the “rare power” (Washington Post) of their recordings, and “an inspirational sense of fun and curiosity” (Minnesota Star-Tribune). The four members of Third Coast are also accomplished teachers, and since 2013, have served as ensemble-in-residence at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. 

A direct connection with the audience is at the core of all of Third Coast Percussion’s work, whether the musicians are speaking from the stage about a new piece of music, inviting the audience to play along in a concert or educational performance, or inviting their fans around the world to create new music using one of their free mobile apps. 

Third Coast Percussion maintains a busy touring schedule, with past performances in 33 of the 50 states plus Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland, and venues ranging from concert halls at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and De Doelen to clubs and alternative performance spaces such as New York’s Le Poisson Rouge and the National Gallery’s West Garden Court. 

The quartet’s curiosity and eclectic taste have led to a series of unlikely collaborations that have produced exciting new art. The ensemble has worked with engineers at the University of Notre Dame, architects at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, dancers at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and musicians from traditions ranging from the mbira music of Zimbabwe’s Shona people, to indie rockers, to some of the world’s leading concert musicians. 

A commission for a new work from composer Augusta Read Thomas in 2012 led to the realization that commissioning new musical works can be – and should be – as collaborative as any other artistic partnership. Through extensive workshopping and close contact with composers, Third Coast Percussion has commissioned and premiered new works from Philip Glass, Devonté Hynes, Donnacha Dennehy, Glenn Kotche, Lei Liang, Gavin Bryars, Christopher Cerrone, Marcos Balter, and today’s leading up-and-coming composers through their Emerging Composers Partnership Program. These works have become part of the ensemble’s core repertoire and seen hundreds of performances across North America and throughout Europe. 

Third Coast Percussion’s recordings include five full-length albums, three EPs, and a number of appearances on other releases. The quartet has put its stamp on iconic percussion works by John Cage, Steve Reich, and Philippe Manoury, and Third Coast has also created first recordings of commissioned works by Augusta Read Thomas, David T. Little, and Ted Hearne, in addition to recordings of the ensemble’s own compositions. In 2017 the ensemble won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble performance for their recording of Steve Reich’s works for percussion. 

Third Coast Percussion has always maintained strong ties to the vibrant artistic community in their hometown of Chicago. They have collaborated with Chicago institutions such as Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Chicago Philharmonic, and the Adler Planetarium, performed at the grand opening of Maggie Daley Children’s Park, conducted residencies at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, created multi-year collaborative projects with Chicago-based composers Augusta Read Thomas, Glenn Kotche, and chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird, and taught tens of thousands of students through partnerships with The People’s Music School, Urban Gateways, the Chicago Park District, Rush Hour Concerts, and others. 

The four members of Third Coast Percussion met while studying percussion music at Northwestern University. Members of Third Coast also hold degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Rutgers University, the New England Conservatory, and the Yale School of Music. Stay up-to-date and go behind-the-scenes by following Third Coast on Twitter (@ThirdCoastPerc), Facebook (@Third Coast Percussion), and Instagram (@ThirdCoastPercussion). 

*Third Coast Percussion is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. 

Third Coast Percussion performs exclusively with Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo Drumheads, and Vic Firth sticks and mallets. 

Anne-Marie McDermott, Piano

Pianist Anne-Marie McDermott is a consummate artist who balances a versatile career as a soloist and collaborator. She performs over 100 concerts a year in a combination of solo recitals, concerti and chamber music. Her repertoire choices are eclectic, spanning from Bach and Haydn to Prokofiev and Scriabin to Kernis, Hartke, Tower and Wuorinen.

With over 50 concerti in her repertoire, Ms. McDermott has performed with many leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Seattle Symphony, National Symphony, Houston Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, Hong Kong Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, New Jersey Symphony and Baltimore Symphony among others. Ms. McDermott has toured with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Moscow Virtuosi.

In the recent seasons, Ms. McDermott performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Huntsville Symphony, Alabama Symphony, San Diego Symphony, the Oregon Mozart Players, and the New Century Chamber Orchestra.

Recital engagements have included the 92nd Street Y, Alice Tully Hall, Town Hall, The Schubert Club, Kennedy Center, as well as universities across the country. Anne-Marie McDermott has curated and performed in a number of intense projects including: the Complete Prokofiev Piano Sonatas and Chamber Music, a Three Concert Series of Shostakovich Chamber Music, as well as a recital series of Haydn and Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Most recently, she commissioned works of Charles Wuorinen and Clarice Assad which were premiered in May 2009 at Town Hall, in conjunction with Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

As a soloist, Ms. McDermott has recorded the complete Prokofiev Piano Sonatas, Bach English Suites and Partitas (which was named Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice), and most recently, Gershwin Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra with the Dallas Symphony and Justin Brown.

In addition to her many achievements and association with Bravo! Vail, McDermott is also Artistic Director of two other festivals; The Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival in the Florida Keys and The Avila Chamber Music Celebration in Curaçao, off the coast of Venezuela.

As a chamber music performer, Anne-Marie McDermott was named an artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in 1995 and performs and tours extensively with them each season. She also continues a long standing collaboration with the highly acclaimed violinist, Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg. As a duo, they have released a CD titled “Live” on the NSS label and plan to release the Complete Brahms Violin and Piano Sonatas in the future. Ms. McDermott is also a member of the renowned piano quartet, Opus One, with colleagues Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom and Peter Wiley.

She continues to perform each season with her sisters, Maureen McDermott and Kerry McDermott in the McDermott Trio. Ms. McDermott has also released an all Schumann CD with violist, Paul Neubauer, as well as the Complete Chamber Music of Debussy with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Ms. McDermott studied at the Manhattan School of Music with Dalmo Carra, Constance Keene and John Browning. She was a winner of the Young Concert Artists auditions and was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

In addition to her duties at Bravo! Vail, Anne-Marie McDermott regularly performs at Festivals across the United States including Spoleto, Mainly Mozart, Sante Fe, La Jolla Summerfest, Mostly Mozart, Newport, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, Aspen, Music from Angelfire, and the Festival Casals in Puerto Rico, among others.

Photo: Zach Mahone

Amy Yang, Piano

Hailed by The New York Concert Review as "a magnificent artist and poet", pianist Amy Yang is a seasoned soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. In the exciting last season, she played over fifty concerts including making debuts on series like the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Music at the Phillips in Washington, D.C., Music at the Institute in New York City, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Wolfeboro Friends of Music, Curtis On Tour at the Kennedy Center, Van Cliburn Tribute at the Nasher Museum’s Soundings Series in Ft. Worth, collaborating with the ensemble A Far Cry and with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Sembrich Museum Series. Upcoming concerts include debuts with the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) Orchestra, recitals at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller University, Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota, and at The Kennedy Center.

On the Curtis Institute of Music’s Summerfest programs, she serves as Program Director and piano faculty for its Young Artist Summer Program, and continues to serve as piano faculty for the Chamber Music and Orchestra for Adults program. Regularly during the school year, she works at Curtis as a Chamber Music Mentor. She recently joined the faculty at The University of Pennsylvania as a chamber music coach. As a juror, she has judged the Bravura Philharmonic Concerto Competition, Temple University Concerto Competition, the New Jersey Music Teacher’s Association Masterclass Competition, and will be on the panel for the Toronto Piano Competition.

An experienced performer, Ms. Yang has concertized in many major halls in the United States and abroad in Turkey, Spain, Poland, and China. First prize winner of competitions including the International Corpus Christi Young Artists' Competition and the Kosciuszko National Chopin Piano Competition, she has soloed with the Houston Symphony, Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Great Hall Chamber Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony, Shenyang Conservatory Orchestra, Corpus Christi Symphony, among others.

Passionate about chamber music, she has collaborated with extraordinary artists and toured with Musicians from Ravinia and Curtis on Tour. Festival appearances include Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Prussia Cove Masterclasses, Verbier Academy, Chamber Music Northwest, Salt Bay Chamberfest, Music from Angel Fire, and numerous others. An advocate for new music, she has given world premieres of music by Ezra Laderman and the latest Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw.

She is the founder of The Schumann Project, a special series of concerts to present Schumann’s major solo piano and chamber works over the next decade. Her discography includes an album of chamber music with clarinetist Jose Franch-­‐Ballester (iTinerant Records, Spain), an upcoming release of Ezra Laderman’s Piano Sonata No. 5 (Albany Records, NY), and a debut solo album in the works.

Ms. Yang is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, and The Yale School of Music, where she received the Parisot Prize for an Outstanding Pianist as well as the Alumni Association Prize. Her principal teachers are Timothy Hester, Claude Frank, Robert McDonald, and Peter Frankl. In her spare times, she enjoys drawing, painting, reading psychology, art history, and neuroscience texts.



Photo credit: Balzs Brcz - Pilvax Studio