“Robin: artist, musician, performer, composer, teacher, mentor, writer, hilarious jokester, probing conversationalist, foodie, golfer, voracious reader and a most curious mind, has left us. Devoted husband to Eleanor, “King of the World” to his children Bryce and Dorothy, “Ogi” to his grandchildren Esme, Grayson and Lucie and father-in-law to Richard and Jill.” www.robinengelman.com
Special Moments with Robin
On Saturday, February 27, 2016 when I first received news of Robin’s passing, I was overwhelmed with a deep sense of sadness that can only come from losing someone who is loved as a longtime friend, mentor, and colleague. My mind has been flooded with memories, and yet it has taken days to be able… Read more »
Steel Pans and Glass Music
I recently attended a performance of the New York Theatre Ballet entitled Legends & Visionaries. It took place at the cool little theater of New York Live Arts on 19th Street in Manhattan (newyorklivearts.org). The dance performance included a work by Philip Glass entitled Etudes for Piano, nos. 1-10, arranged by Josh Quillen, the director… Read more »
Robin Engelman
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of NEXUS founding member Robin Engelman. As the message came to us, ‘Robin left “On Tour” yesterday afternoon, Friday, February 26.’ As John Wyre said, Robin brought “enormous authority to his performance and to his life.” A memorial page is being created on Robin’s website… Read more »
Archive of Acoustic Disc Records Featuring the Xylophone
On November 7, 2015 the collection of disc phonograph records listed in this index below was delivered to the Center for Mallet Percussion Research at Kutztown University, c/o the Kutztown University Foundation located at 15200 Kutztown Road, Kutztown, PA 19530. To read more about the Archive CLICK HERE: Notes on the Archive Included in the… Read more »
About Notation for Snare Drum Rolls
After posting the information about the publication of “Time Zones” (see my preceding blog post), I received the following response on Facebook from Lee Gurst, whom I have known since high school days in Philadelphia, at which time I greatly admired his concert snare drumming. Lee studied with Philadelphia Orchestra percussionist, Michael Bookspan, one of… Read more »
Time Zones – Five Concert Pieces for Snare Drum
I’m excited and pleased to announce that Bachovich Music Publications is now publishing my “Time Zones – Five Concert Pieces for Snare Drum.” The compositions are intended to be added to the repertoire for solo percussion recitals, and the five pieces were composed to be complimentary, so that any number of them – from one… Read more »
FIVE Cool News Bytes from NEXUS!
Just to keep you in the loop, here’s what’s happening: 1) Three NEXUS albums are now on CD Baby!! Details below. 2) We have a brand NEW NEXUS album to be released soon! See below. 3) NEXUS members are in residencies in Columbus OH, Fredonia NY, and Philadelphia. See below. 4) Russell is heading to… Read more »
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez, composer and conductor, passed away on January 5 at the age of 90. It is said that conductors live long lives due to their intense mental and physical activity during performances. His compositions are still considered by many to be avant-garde due to their complexity. Composer Edgard Varèse has attributed this attitude to… Read more »
“Persian Songs” on CD Hotlist’s Top Picks for December!!
Isn’t that great?! We made it onto the CD Hotlist’s Top Picks for December! Check out this GREAT review: “The percussion quartet Nexus has prepared two suites of arrangements for this recording: the first is a set of six compositions by the famous outsider composer Moondog; the second is a suite of seven songs by… Read more »
Musical Panacea For Children
From Chimalong Junior to Chimalong Panacea, it’s all about children and music. In the early 1980s when Diane and I started our family, there were no high-quality musical instruments on the market for children that I was aware of. So I had an idea to take the musically tuned tubes from our line of Woodstock… Read more »
Persian Songs selection now on Radio Airplay
If you are a fan of internet radio, you can now hear one of our new Persian Songs tracks featuring Sepideh Raissadat on Radio Airplay: “Vajd; Ta Dami Bissayam” (“Ecstasy; A Moment of Ease”). The lyrics for this beautiful piece were written by Sheykh Bahayi (1547-1621). The piece was composed by Reza Ghassemi and arranged… Read more »
The NEXUS Network of Connections with Timpanists
A few years ago Russell Hartenberger put together a chart which shows the network of connections between timpanists and members of NEXUS. For anyone who might be interested, here it is; enjoy!
Lots of Music – November 2015 (Part 4)
On Sunday November 15 Kaz, Aya, Nonoka, Michael Burritt and I flew back home from the San Antonio PASIC to Rochester by way of Charlotte, NC. The three visitors from Japan were our guests for a few days. It was a very clear dark night when we finally arrived at my house, and as we… Read more »
Lots of Music – November 2015 (Part 3)
On November 11, my 69th birthday (whaaat!) I flew to San Antonio for the 40th Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the annual gathering of about 6000 percussionists/drummers from all over the world. After checking in to my hotel I contacted Kazunori Meguro (‘Kaz’), who had just arrived from Tokyo and who was staying at the… Read more »
