This week, join us in wishing our Business Manager and Recording Engineer/Producer Ray Dillard a very happy birthday! In addition to his many and varied duties for NEXUS – everything from bill paying, banking, logistics, instrument loading, recording, and just general wonderful support – Ray records and advises other artists too, and has a busy… Read more »
We are excited to share the news with you that NEXUS will be a part of the Open Ears Festival in June. This innovative art-and-sound festival in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, only happens every two years.
I thought you would enjoy the article just posted on Thomas Brett’s blog about “a rendition of Steve Reich’s Music For Pieces Of Wood by the esteemed percussion ensemble Nexus.” The performance he looks at is on Youtube and is provided at the bottom of the article. The post is titled On The Wisdom Of… Read more »
Join us on Facebook to see a wonderful collection of photos of John Wyre’s World Drums at Expo 86 in Vancouver, Canada. The photos have been shared with us by Barry Burns who was production stage manager with the Expo 86 entertainment department and today is with the Shaw Festival. Barry says that World Drums… Read more »
Reviewer John Terauds gave a great shout-out to NEXUS this weekend in his excellent review of Rob Power’s new album “Touch”: “There’s been an explosion (or should we call it striking growth?) in the number of fine percussionists in this country — largely due to the influence and inspiration of Nexus, the Toronto ensemble founded… Read more »
If you have been following us on Facebook, you will know that the NEXUS members are heading to Indianapolis for the 2013 Percussive Arts Society International Conference. Russell Hartenberger is going to be on the World Percussion Committee’s panel along with B. Michael Williams, Shawn Mativetsky, and Michael Spiro with Neeraj Mehta as “referee”. Bill… Read more »
NEXUS founding member emeritus, Robin Engelman, has been typing up his diary of the NEXUS 1984 World Tour! You can find Parts 1 to 4 on his blog. Here are the links: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Enjoy!
It was announced this week that the notorious bank robber Stephen Reid has won a $5000 literary award for his collection of essays penned in prison. Reid’s life and philosophy were the subject of the 2007 documentary “Inside Time” for which NEXUS provided the sound track. The film (directed by Jason Young and produced by… Read more »
We’re getting ready for the Drum Boogie Festival on Saturday Sept 7 (rain date Sept 8th) in Woodstock NY. NEXUS will perform a tribute to the great ragtime composer George Hamilton Green at 10 a.m. at the Artists Cemetery. Then at 11 the festival begins at Andy Lee Field. Along with NEXUS, performers include Jack… Read more »
“The Reich stuff”: that’s what Bill Cahn calls it. The New Yorker has called Steve Reich “the most original musical thinker of our time.” Steve Reich has called NEXUS “probably the most acclaimed percussion group on earth.” Clearly, a match made in heaven! In 2010, NEXUS premiered Reich’s new Mallet Quartet, commissioned by NEXUS and… Read more »
I have just been reading a very interesting blog post about Toru Takemitsu that talks of his many connections with Canada and Toronto. The article is a discussion of a recording of his pieces : TAKEMITSU: Toward the Sea / Rain Tree / Rain Spell / Bryce. The recording features Robert Aitken and the Toronto… Read more »
I’ve been meaning to mention for awhile now the super blog-post from Jon McCaslin about NEXUS. Check it out here. Jon includes some nice video footage too: NEXUS performing Steve Reich’s Music For Pieces of Wood, Steve Gadd tap-dancing to NEXUS, and Duke’s Lullaby featuring Steve Gadd and Abraham Adzenyah with NEXUS. Jon happens to… Read more »
What a fabulous response to Toru Takemitsu’s “From me flows what you call Time…” performed by NEXUS with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Peter Bay. The reviews are in, and…my oh my! Jeff Spevak, music critic for The Democrat & Chronicle, says “the night belonged to the sparkling collaboration between the RPO… Read more »
NEXUS celebrates their 42nd anniversary tomorrow. And what a “birthday lead-up” they’ve been having – wonderful concerts and superb reviews with the Rochester Philharmonic and Peter Bay.
The NEXUS members are converging on Rochester for this week’s performances of Takemitsu’s “From me flows what you call Time…” NEXUS has played this piece all over the world, and I want to share just a few of the press comments about this phenomenal work: “Any more picturesque offering from the BBC Proms is hardly… Read more »
