Sō Percussion is an American percussion quartet based in New York City. Originally founded in 1999 by students at the , the ensemble pioneered a standard repertoire of contemporary percussion music by , , and others, and gained international recognition for their recordings and performances of new works by , , , , , , , , , , , and . In addition to numerous commissions, So Percussion has been composing and recording original music Imaginary City, , and their latest program, A Gun Show, performed as a part of BAM's 2016 Next Wave Festival. The ensemble is known for using unusual and exotic instruments, including glockenspiel, bowed marimba, aluminum pipes and an amplified cactus.
The quartet frequently collaborates with a wide range of artists around the world, such as electronic duo , , legendary drummer , , 's , (composer and leader of ), , , , , , /, , choreographer Shen Wei, and Princeton Laptop Orchestra.
Recent highlights include a featured performance at with Glenn Kotche and Shara Nova, a collaboration with and , performances of David Lang's percussion concerto with conducting , and Bryce Dessner's Music for Wood and Strings at in London and Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival.
The members of So Percussion are Edward T. Cone performers-in-residence at . They founded an annual So Percussion Summer Institute (SoSI) on Princeton's campus in 2009. The program features teaching and performing with the members of So Percussion and Princeton faculty and student composers. In 2010, four percussionists became co-directors of a new percussion department at . First students had enrolled into a 5-year double-degree undergraduate program in Aug 2011. Among guest faculty for the program are , , , , and .
The band's name was suggested by film director and English-Japanese translator , Jason's sister. Word Sō comes from ॏ, the second character in the compound Japanese word ༔ॏ (ensou) to perform music. By itself, so means 'to play an instrument.' But it can also mean 'to be successful,' 'to determine a direction and move forward,' and 'to present to the gods or ruler.'
Members
Eric Cha-Beach since 2007
Josh Quillen since 2006
Adam Sliwinski since 2002
Jason Treuting since 1999
Past members
Tim Feeney
Todd Meehan
Doug Perkins
Lawson White
Members
- Tim Feeney
- Todd Meehan
- Lawson White
- Jason Treuting
- Douglas Perkins
- Adam Sliwinski
- Josh Quillen
- Eric Beach