NEXUS will be performing at the New Music Festival ina new 3-movement work entitled “Vergiliana” that they have jointly commissioned from composer Norbert Palej. The piece will be in homage to Cage and his influential contributions to percussion and piano music. NEXUS worked directly with Cage many times – their performances of Cage’s seminal work for percussion, “Third Construction” in 1984 were the first times Cage had heard the work since 1941!
NEXUS and 2X10 (pianists Midori Koga & Lydia Wong) have been actively expanding the emerging percussion/ piano ensemble repertoire for several years, and hearing NEXUS and 2X10 perform together is exhilarating! In 2010 they presented a critically-acclaimed tour de force performing Holst’s The Planets and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring – two orchestral masterpieces in rarely-heard arrangements for 2 pianos and percussion! It was superb. In 2011 this innovative pairing of percussion and duo pianos performed music by two of the most influential musical figures from the eastern and western hemispheres: Steve Reich and Toru Takemitsu. Please join us at Walter Hall in Toronto to hear NEXUS and 2X10! You won’t be disappointed!
