DAVID COSSIN is a specialist in new and experimental
music, David has worked across a broad spectrum of musical and artistic forms
to incorporate new media with percussion.
David Cossin has recorded and performed internationally
with composers an ensembles including the Bang
on a Can All-Stars, Steve Reich and
Musicians, Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Meredith Monk, Tan Dun, Cecil Taylor, Talujon Percussion Quartet and the trio, Real Quiet. Numerous theater projects include
collaborations with Blue Man Group, Mabou Mines, and director Peter Sellars. David was featured as the
percussion soloist in Tan Dun’s Grammy and Oscar winning score to Ang Lee’s
film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Most recently, David joined Sting for his world tour,
Symphonicities with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
David has performed as a soloist with orchestras through
out the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra Radio France,
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sao Paulo State Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Hong Kong Symphony, and the Singapore
Symphony.
David ventures into other art forms include the curator for the
Sound Res Festival, an experimental music festival in southern Italy and also
teaches percussion at Queens College in New York City.
DR. DOMINIC DONATO is active
as a percussion soloist, chamber musician, composer and teacher. He is
a member of the Talujon Percussion Quartet and DoublePlay Percussion
Duo and has been staff percussionist for the Composers Conference at
Wellesley College for the past 20 years.
As a soloist Dominic has performed in New York, Rome, Amsterdam,
and in Paris where he gave the French premiere of Iannis Xenakis'
Percussion
Concerto, Omega. He was invited to the Donaueschingen Music Festival to
premiere James Tenney's Song 'n' Dance for Harry Partch with the SWR
Symphony Orchestra and he was featured soloist for Iannis Xenakis' Ais
for Amplified Baritone, Percussion Soloist and Large Orchestra at the
Gulbenkian Festival in Lisbon, Portugal.
In May 2001 Dominic presented his first concert of all tamtam music
(TAMTAM I) which became the inspiration for his "Music for Tamams"
Project. This first concert featured James Tenney's Having Never Written a Note for Percussion and two versions of John Cage's One4 along with
new pieces by Helen Lee and himself. Since that concert he has
commissioned and performed a number of compositions featuring tamtams
from a number of very talented composers including Peter Jarvis, Stuart
Jones, Elizabeth Hoffman, Eric Moe, Steven Ricks and Ushio Torikai. He
has also written a number of pieces that feature tamtam, most recently
using the Electrix Repeater as a means to expand the possibilities in
live performance. In 2006 he presented a second full concert of all
tamtam music (TAMTAM II) which featured new works by Jarvis, Jones,
Ricks and himself as well as James Tenney's For Percussion Perhaps,
Or…(night). Last year Dominic released "METALMORPHOSIS," the
first CD of his "Music for Tamtams" project, on Capstone Records.
Upcoming premieres include new works written for Dominic by composers
Barbara White, Maxwell Dulaney, Xi Wang, and Seung-Ah Oh.
In 2007 Dr. Donato was selected by Meet the Composer as one of eight
"Soloist Champions" in honor of his continuing commitment to new music
and the solo percussion repertoire. Dr. Donato directs the Percussion
Department and Contemporary Ensemble at the Conservatory of Music,
Purchase College, SUNY.
Percussionist TOM KOLOR specializes in
20th and 21st century music, and holds a Master’s degree from the
Juilliard School. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the
University at Buffalo.
Mr. Kolor appears throughout the United
States and Europe as a member of Talujon Percussion, Manhattan
Sinfonietta, Ensemble 21, Sospeso, American Modern Ensemble and
Newband. In addition, he is a frequent guest of such ensembles as the
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York New Music Ensemble,
Speculum Musicae, Continuum, Da Capo Chamber Players, Group for
Contemporary Music, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
As a soloist, he has given dozens of premieres
by such composers as Milton Babbitt, John Zorn, Wayne Peterson, Tania
Leon, and Jerome Kitzke. He has recorded for Bridge, New World, Albany,
Capstone, Innova, Wergo, Naxos, CRI, Koch, Tzadik, North/South
Consonance, and Deutsche Grammophon labels.
Percussionist Michael Lipsey has
performed at festivals in Bali, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Mexico City,
Taipei, Macao, Tokyo, La Jolla, New York, Moscow, Bogota and Lille, France.
Michael is the founding member of Talujon Percussion and has also performed
with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Steve Reich, Bang on a Can, Tan
Dun, New York New Music Ensemble and Riverside Symphony. He has recorded for Sony Records, Red
Poppy Records, Nonesuch, Albany, Capstone and Mode. As a soloist, Michael
Lipsey has performed on the Sonic Boom Festival in New York, Festival of the
Arts in California and at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention
in Nashville. He has given master
classes at Juilliard School of Music, California School of the Arts, Purchase
College of Music, University of Maryland at Baltimore and many universities
around the country.
Michael has also worked with many
musicians from around the world.
Recently, he has been performing with Gamelan Dharma Swara, a Balinese
gamelan located in New York City.
He recently performed and recorded with DS as the first American gamelan
at the PKB in Denpasar, Bali. He has studied other musical languages and worked
with a diverse blend of musicians like Subash Chandran, Ganesh Kumar, Glen
Velez, Carlos Gomez, Antonio Hart, Roland Vasquez and most recently he formed a
duo with percussionist River Guerguerian.
He has received funding from the PSCUNY-36 Award for a solo CD which was
released in October, 2006. The
music on the CD contains recently commissioned works for solo hand drums and
includes composers Jason Eckardt, River Guerguerian, Mathew Rosenblum, Arthur
Kreiger, Eric Moe, Dominic Donato, David Cossin and David Rakowski. All the pieces from the cd are also
published by Calabrese Brothers Publishing, LLC. You can purchase these pieces at this website:
Michael is a full-time Associate
Professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY, Queens College. He is
the Director of the Percussion Program and the New Music Ensemble.
MATT WARD is dedicated to performing
and commissioning new music and has been cited by the New York Times as
“a fine soloist”. With a particular interest in
chamber music, he is a principal player with the Argento Chamber
Players, Talujon, and is also the co-founder of the percussion trio
Timetable. Mr. Ward also performs regularly with groups such as
the Manhattan Sinfonietta, the American Modern Ensemble, Associated
Solo Artists, Albany Symphony and the Riverside Symphony. Mr. Ward was
the recipient of the Ridley-Tree Fellowship at the Music Academy of the
West in 1998, and in 1999 he participated in the Tanglewood Music
Center under the direction of Seiji Ozawa and George Benjamin and
returned the following year for the American Premiere of Pierre
Boulez's Sur Incises at the 60th Anniversary TMC Alumni Concert.
Recent projects include the American Premiere of Philippe Hurel's
percussion concerto at Merkin Hall, and the premieres of two new works
for percussion by Elizabeth Hoffman.
Matt Ward began studying conducting as the student
director of the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players and in
residence at the Bang On a Can Summer Music Festival. Since then,
he has premiered new works by Phillipe Manoury, Lawrence Moss, Ross
Bauer, Meyer Kupferman, Barbara White, Sebastian Armoza and many other
young composers. He is also a regular guest conductor with the
International Contemporary Ensemble and Ensemble Inc.
Mr. Ward holds a BM degree from the Manhattan School
of Music and a MM degree from SUNY Stony Brook, where he is currently a
Candidate for his DMA. He is on faculty at Queens College and at
the Bloomingdale School of Music where he directs the percussion
ensemble and conducts student and faculty ensembles. Through
organizations such as the 92nd Street Y, Westchester Philharmonic, and
Marquis Studios Mr. Ward has worked with elementary school children
throughout New York City and the surrounding area. He can be
heard on the recording labels Argo, Newport Classics, Soundspell, and
Albany Records.