Susie Ibarra solo percussion
Performing music from her recent release, Drum Sketches, on Innova Records
Susie Ibarra, percussionist and composer, lives in New York City. She received a music diploma from Mannes College of Music and B.A. from Goddard College. Susie Ibarra studied Kulintang with Danongan Kalanduyan and drum set with Buster Smith, Vernel Fournier and Milford Graves.
As a percussionist, she has performed southeast Asian gong music, jazz, avant-garde, improvised and solo concert works. She has performed with many great artists such as John Zorn, Dave Douglas Pauline Oliveros, Derek Bailey, Ikue Mori, Sylvie Courvoisier, William Parker, Dr. L Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurti, John Lindberg, Wadada Leo Smith, Mark Dresser, Thurston Moore, Savath and Savalas, Prefuse 73, Yo La Tengo, among others.
Susie Ibarra has taught across the U.S. and attended artist residencies including The Walker Art Center, Mills College, Bard College, Swarthmore College, Fundacio Joan Miro, University of Michigan, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, The New School. She was nominated “Best Drummer” in the Village Voice, Downbeat, Jazziz, The Wire. Susie Ibarra is a Yamaha, Paiste & Vic Firth Artist.
She currently performs solo works and with Susie Ibarra Trio with Jennifer Choi & Craig Taborn; Mephista, a collective electro-acoustic trio with Sylvie Couvoisier & Ikue Mori; Shapechanger with poet Yusef Komunyakaa; Mark Dresser & Susie Ibarra Duo; Mundo Ninos children’s music; and Filipino trance music, with Roberto Rodriguez, Electric Kulintang.
Tal (tal) adj. having to do with rhythmic cycles in Indian music
Lujon (loo-zhon) n. a metal log drum
Talujon (tal-loo-zhon) n. a four-member drum ensemble that performs classic and new music using traditional – and not-so-traditional — instruments. Described by the New York Times as an ensemble possessing “edgy, unflagging energy”, the Talujon Percussion Quartet has been mesmerizing audiences since 1990. With an annual schedule of more than 60 concerts, including a dozen premieres, Talujon is thoroughly committed to the expansion of the contemporary percussion repertoire as well as the education and diversification of its worldwide audience. Recent Talujon commissions include quartets by Ralph Shapey, Wayne Peterson, Julia Wolfe, Ushio Torikai, Louis Karchin, Steven Ricks and Chien Yin Chen. Performances have included collaborations with James Tenney, Chou Wen Chung and Tan Dun. Based in New York City, Talujon performs regularly at Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Kitchen, and the Knitting Factory. Talujon has appeared in universities and concert halls throughout the U.S., and on such festivals as Taipei’s Lantern Festival, BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Chautauqua, California’s Festival of New American Music, and Bang on a Can. For the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts series, Talujon developed the program “A World of Influences”, which incorporates Talujon group compositions featuring homemade instruments and traditional instruments from six continents. The group has also given Master classes/workshops at institutions such as the Juilliard School, Stanford University and the University of Oregon. Talujon’s new CD, “…the speed of the passing time…”, features the works of Xenakis, Harrison, Rzewski, Shapey and Talujon. The group’s first CD, “Hum”, includes live performances of works by Reich, Cage, Drummond, and Talujon. Visit talujon.org for more information.
Percussionist Michael Lipsey has performed at festivals in 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, Tan Dun, Steve Reich Ensemble, 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. 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 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 Mathew Rosenblum, Arthur Kreiger, Eric Moe, Dominic Donato, David Cossin and David Rakowski. Michael is a full-time professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY Queens College. I am the Director of the Percussion Program and the Director of the New Music Ensemble.
David Cossin is a specialist in new and experimental music, Cossin has managed to stretch the boundaries of percussion performance by incorporating new media across a broad spectrum of musical and artistic forms. David Cossin has recorded and performed internationally with composers and ensembles including Bang on a Can All-Stars, Steve Reich and Musicians, Philip Glass, Yo-yo Ma, Meredith Monk, Tan Dun, Cecil Taylor, Don Byron, Talujon Percussion Quartet, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and Bo Diddley. Numerous theater projects include collaborations with Blue Man Group, Mabou Mines, and the 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. David has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the world including, Los Angeles
Philharmonic, Radio France, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sao Paulo State Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Hong Kong Symphony, and the Singapore Symphony. Through composition, inventing new instruments, and music production David has ventured into other art forms creating sonic installations that have been presented in the US, Germany, and Italy. This summer, he was invited to be the curator for the Sound Res Festival in southern Italy.