WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams Percussion Ensemble and New Music Williams present Loud & Soft, a program featuring three world premieres and music by two original voices in contemporary music.
This one-hour concert is presented with the audience joining the ensemble on the Chapin Hall stage for an up-close and tactile experience of scraped drums, bowed cymbals, resonant bells, and ringing vibraphones and marimbas.
Loud & Soft, which will be held Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Chapin Hall, is an immersion in instrumental and electronic colors, visceral rhythms and the singular acoustics of Chapin Hall.
Performers are:
Molly Joyce: Loud and Soft, for percussion ensemble (2020)
Linda Catlin Smith: Blue Sky, for percussion quintet (2005)
Jacob Fanto ‘25: Zenith, for percussion ensemble (2022)*
Matt Wisotsky ‘23: Chronostasis, for chamber ensemble (2023)*
Francesca Hellerman ‘23: Ember Blooms, for percussion ensemble and electronics (2023)*
In programs featuring cutting-edge new music and important works of the 20th-century, the Williams Percussion Ensemble (WiPE) surveys a vast terrain of sound and rhythm.
The ensemble employs all manner of percussion instruments, found sounds and electronics to create music that resonates across boundaries of genre and discipline.
In addition to music for percussion alone, the group presents works for mixed ensembles and new and experimental music for a range of instruments.
The ensemble often works directly with composers and collaborates with artists in diverse media in order to explore the connections between sound, form, image and movement.
WiPE strives to offer creative programming, innovative presentation and immersive experiences in which the listener is invited to hear music in new ways.
For additional information, visit events.williams.edu/event/williams-percussion-ensemble-23.
