May 31-June 2
Music @ First
Brooklyn Heights
7:30pm

From May 31 through June 2 at Music @ First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn Heights, Mantra Percussion presents 3 consecutive nights of percussion portrait concerts featuring 3 premieres by 3 of New York City's most intriguing "Under 40" composers: Tristan Perich (May 31), Aaron Siegel (June 1) and Ted Hearne (June 2).

For this unparalleled series of concerts Mantra Percussion is joined by The Young People's Chorus of New York City and a host of other friends and collaborators.

These unique performances come at a vibrant time for contemporary music.... and you can help bring this music to life by supporting these composers, whose energy and creativity enrich the beautifully dynamic new-music eco-system.

Tristan Perich's music has been described as "an austere meeting of electronic and organic." His compelling works often mix intense rhythmic propulsion with interwoven instrumental and electronic melodies -- as if Schubert had written video game music. On May 31, Mantra Percussion premieres a new work by Perich for resonant metals and "brownian noise" -- random 1-bit pitch dat, which creates a timbral rather than a tonal texture. The group will also feature Perich's duo for crotales and 1-bit sound, his solo for vibraphone and 1-bit sound, as well as his 35 minute duo for tubular bells.

Aaron Siegel's music is nestled somewhere between American minimalism and the music of Johannes Ockeghem. Mantra Percussion's recent recording of Siegel's 45 minute glockenspiel octet with electric organ, Science is Only a Sometimes Friend, was recognized by TimeOut New York as one of the Top Ten Best Classical Albums of 2011. On June 1, Siegel enlists the always sensational Young People's Chorus of New York City in a new work for 8-hands vibraphone and SSAA chorus. Mantra Percussion will also premiere a new work by Siegel for 4 timpani (4 players) and the First Presbyterian Church's grand pipe organ. In addition to the premieres, Mantra Percussion performs selections from Siegel's opera, Brother Brother for 2 vibraphones, glockenspiel, flute, viola, cello, 2 singers and 2 actors, as well as his two solos for vibraphone.

Ted Hearne, winner of the 2009 Gaudeamus Prize for music, composes with an ear not only to the future, but to the rich Western musical canon. Hearne — whose influences equally include indie-rock, avant garde jazz, and many styles of contemporary classical music — has found a deeply personal niche by expanding the genre of classical song within a 21st century indie-pop idiom. Intricate, yet seemingly effortless, musical figures ripple from his rhythmically-intense scores. Hearne's impressively virtuosic sensibilities immediately captivate the listener and his pop-like melodies dig into the core of music's affect. On June 2, Mantra Percussion premieres a new work for violin, viola and percussion sextet by Hearne, with violinist Aaron Packard and violist Anne Lanzilotti. The program also includes Hearne's solo for drum set, his percussion quartet, his duo for viola and vibraphone and his duo for piano and glockenspiel, with pianist David Friend.