Yesterday I attended the Premier’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts where Ontario’s Ministry of Culture and the Ontario Arts Council honour Ontario artists and arts organizations. The event was held at the Wychwood Barns.  Two years ago, Artscape took over the old Wychwood Toronto Transit streetcar repair barns and transformed them into a community… Read more »

Walking around Toronto this week, I see gardens that are overflowing with an abundance of lush iris blossoms. It puts me in mind of Bob Becker who has raised irises in his garden for years. He has planted a number of Zwilich commission called “Rituals”?) At the end of next month, Bob travels to Delaware… Read more »

NEXUS – Bill Cahn, John Wyre, Bob Becker and Robin Engelman – in January 1984 observed Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Trudeau as he strutted his stuff to Zhao Ziyang, the Premier of the People’s Republic of China.  The news photo that appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail on January 17, 1984 was taken… Read more »

On May 24 I again joined forces with Peter Soave, She-e Wu and the Northwestern University Percussion Ensemble, this time at the new Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s spectacular Millennium Park. Besides the Frank Gehry-designed pavilion itself, the park contains Anish Kapoor’s magical polished steel sculpture, Cloud Gate. Just before our rehearsal, I was surprised to… Read more »

  As the first academic year ends for the new percussion department at the Eastman School of Music, the percussion team was called upon to provide music for a ceremony celebrating the construction of a new facility. The new building is being constructed adjacent to the historic Eastman Theater,  and it will feature the new… Read more »

I’ve been browsing among CBC’s Russell Hartenberger was the principal guest at the January 2009 Ellen Taaffe Zwilich‘s Trio For Cello, Violin and Piano. (You will recall that Ellen has also written a very fine piece for NEXUS entitled Rituals). You also won’t want to miss the John Wyre, co-founder of NEXUS. You can also… Read more »

After yesterday’s post about NEXUS’s birthday, it seems only fair to me that we post a vintage shot of Garry Kvistad too. Why should he escape unscathed! Here is a 1977 photo from Garry’s Woodstock Chimes website of he and his wife Diane at the Cincinnati Craft Fair the day his first Chimes of Olympos… Read more »

Today is NEXUS’ 38th Birthday! On May 22, 1971, the first NEXUS concert took place in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music. The concert was organized by Warren Benson, and it was entirely improvised. The founding members were John Wyre, Michael Craden, Bob Becker, Bill Cahn, Robin Engelman, and Russell Hartenberger. Today’s members… Read more »

Except for the timpani part in “White Night” by Toshi Ichiyanagi, which  I played with NEXUS in one concert in Toronto a few years ago, and my own “Night Ride”, which was in the NEXUS repertoire for a few concerts in 2006/2007, I had not really spent much time ‘timpanizing’ since I left the Rochester… Read more »

Dan Hinger and Bill Cahn  (1981)   I first met Mr. Hinger at a rehearsal of the Philadelphia All-City Junior High Band in 1960.  His son, Bill Hinger and I were budding 8th-grade percussionists in the Band, and Dan was there at one of our Saturday morning rehearsals at Girls High School on North Broad… Read more »

The following poem is dedicated to Warren Benson. It was composed after hearing a performance of Warren’s “Danzon” for wind ensemble.     Another Story for Virgins (Warren’s DANZON)   marimba [?] . . . blossoms into . . . ubiquitous NOW awash in a swirl of amorphous sound virgin ears spread to beckon a penetration… Read more »

I had a number of interesting and enjoyable tours during the first months of 2009. On January 9 and 10, I was in Minneapolis for the Minnesota Day of Percussion held at Anoka High School. This was a splendidly run and densely packed day of concerts and workshops. I presented both snare drum and cymbal… Read more »