Following the incredible experience of performing Adam Schoenberg’s “Losing Earth” percussion concerto this past November with the Rogue Valley Symphony, I am excited to perform it again with Maestro Martin Majkut at the Oregon Coast Music Festival!

Adam writes about “Losing Earth:”

“On August 1, 2018, The New York Times Magazine published Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change. After reading this haunting article, I could feel myself becoming fearful of our future. Of what was to come. We’ve been aware of global warming for quite some time, but I was suddenly beginning to wonder how this would ultimately affect my children. Would they survive? Would the earth survive?

When I was first commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony to write this piece, I began to think about the history of percussion and how it can be traced back to the beginning of time. It is the most earthy and grounded of instruments, and in many cultures is considered to be the heartbeat of music. With the ability to make rhythm, keep time, and create melody, drums were a way for our ancestors to communicate love and joy, danger and survival. They have also traditionally been at the center of oral history, with percussionists being the storytellers. Second only to the human voice, this instrument has watched the earth endure all of its phases, including the devastation that is now beginning to emerge because of global warming. Losing Earth pays homage to this history.”

The instruments Adam chose to tell the story trace my own history with percussion in many ways: rudimental snare drum, cajón, vibraphone, a “Frankenstein drum set”…when I heard the piece and saw the score I knew this was the piece I had been looking for!

Martin and I will also give a preview about the piece the day before, Friday, June 24th, at noon. Info on that is at this link.

Tickets to the concert and more information about the location at this link.