The UVA Percussion Ensemble, directed by I-Jen Fang, will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary with “A Night of Percussion Concert” Saturday, April 5th, at 8pm in Old Cabell Hall. Alumni and current members will come together for a full weekend of fun and exciting events. The program will include the “greatest hits” from the past years by Mark Panetti and Judith Shatin as well as four world premieres by UVA composers.
The concert will open with Percussive Main Tenants by alum Craig Hunter (2015) composed for the entire 18-member ensemble. Connectivity by Molly Joyce, a current UVA Ph.D. composition student, written for I-Jen Fang on marimba with percussion trio will close the first half of the program. The second half of the concert will begin with a beautiful nostalgic piece, Feeling of Coming Home by Victor LaBozzetta III. Duel of the Beasts by our very own Charles Meyersberg (first year), written for 11 first and second year members of the ensemble. Then the concert will close with Night Songs by Cameron Church (2020). Alumni will join forces with the current members of the percussion ensemble to perform on this last piece.
The UVA Percussion Ensemble is directed by I-Jen Fang, the Principal Timpanist and Percussionist with the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia. Re-established in spring 2005, the Percussion Ensemble is a chamber group that performs literature from classical transcriptions to contemporary music. The ensemble draws upon a large family of pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments. The number of players and the amount of equipment varies greatly from piece to piece. The current members of the UVA Percussion Ensemble are Rohan Chowla, Noah Dale, Helen Dunn, Cason Duszak, Ryan Healy, Eva Houston, Shreyans Jain, Emerson Lee, Charles Meyersberg, Luci Nguyen, Connor Rogers, Matthew Rusten, Milen Satish, Nicole Shou, Gabe Silverstein, Rasmi Tangirala, Bri Velasco, and Thomas Worden.
This is an Arts Enhancement Event supported by the Office of the Provost & the Vice Provost for the Arts. This event is also supported by the Eleanor Shea Music Trust .
Bios of the Soloist and Composers:
Described as an “intrepid percussionist” by Fanfare Magazine, I-Jen Fang has a career as a solo performer, chamber musician, orchestral player, and teacher. She joined the faculty of the Music Department at the University of Virginia in 2005 and serves as the Principal Timpanist and Percussionist of the Charlottesville Symphony. She received her B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University, M.M. from Northwestern University and D.M.A. from the University of North Texas. I-Jen has performed or recorded with artists such as Keiko Abe, William Cahn, Christopher Deane, Mark Ford, Mike Mainieri, Ed Smith, Michael Spiro, Nanik Wenton, Nyoman Wenton, Attacca Percussion Group, EcoSono Ensemble, Cantata Profana, and Da Capo Chamber Players. She is also a founding member, with Ayn Balija, of the Piedmont Duo. I-Jen has performed as a soloist in Taiwan, U.S., Austria, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and South Africa. She has also appeared as a featured performer at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, PAS Day of Percussion, DrumFest (Poland), International Viola Congress, National Flute Association Convention, SEAMUS, TechnoSonics Festival, Staunton Music Festival, Wintergreen Festival, and Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival. I-Jen Fang is an Innovative Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, and Marimba One artist.
Cameron Church is a composer, a performer, and a sound artist. Prior to graduating from the University of Virginia in 2020, Cameron was a member of the UVA Percussion Ensemble for 8 semesters, having 5 pieces premiered by the ensemble in that time. In his exploration of music and performance art, Cameron often performs as a pianist, percussionist, laptopist, and much more. He enjoys using his background in mathematics and computer science to write music which is built around complex systems of interaction between performers. While he loves writing music on his own, Cameron’s favorite part of composing is working with fellow performers and composers where he can engage with other creative minds to make something exciting to perform. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with artists and groups including Ben Giroux, Ensemble Dal Niente, Nadia Sirota, the Neave Trio, the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, the Piedmont Duo, Popebama, and many more. He also organized the Compose on the Clock festival at the Peabody Institute as well as co-founded the DEX Digital Sample Library and the Critical Error Ensemble. Cameron received his B.A. in Music and in Mathematics from the University of Virginia, and his M.M. in Music Composition at Peabody studying under Oscar Bettison, Felipe Lara, and Sky Macklay.
Craig Hunter was an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia from 2011 to 2015. While a student, Craig was a percussionist in the Charlottesville Symphony and a member of the UVA Percussion Ensemble. As a composer, he annually contributed a new piece to the UVA Percussion Ensemble, writing to the specific size of the ensemble. Additionally, Craig wrote the original score for two short films which were featured at the Virginia Film Festival. Craig was also an active composer with the Student Video Game Developers club. Craig graduated from the University of Virginia in 2015 with a double major in Computer Science and Music. Since graduating, he has continued to write and arrange music for local schools, ensembles, and independent media projects. Craig now lives with his fianceé Lanna and his dog Albus in Reston, Virginia.
Molly Joyce has been deemed one of the “most versatile, prolific, and intriguing composers working under the vast new-music dome” by The Washington Post. Her work is concerned with disability as a creative source. Her work is concerned with disability as a creative source. Her most recent album, Perspective, featuring voices and viewpoints of disabled interviewees, was praised by Pitchfork as “a powerful work of love and empathy that underscores the poison of ableism in American culture.” Molly’s creative projects have been presented and commissioned by Carnegie Hall, GM Europe, TEDxMidAtlantic, SXSW:EDU, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Bang on a Can Marathon, Americans for the Arts, National Sawdust, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, National Gallery of Art, and Classical:NEXT. She is a graduate of Juilliard, Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Yale, and alumnus of the YoungArts Foundation. She holds an Advanced Certificate and Master of Arts in Disability Studies from CUNY School of Professional Studies, and is a Dean’s Doctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia in Composition and Computer Technologies. She has served on the composition faculties of New York University, Wagner College, and Berklee Online. For more information: www.mollyjoyce.com
Charles Meyersberg is a first-year urban planning major from Spokane, WA. He started drum set lessons in 3rd grade and has been playing percussion ever since! Charles especially loves playing marimba, concert snare drum, and drum set. He has enjoyed arranging in MuseScore, and Duel of the Beasts will be his f irst original composition ever being performed! Charles is very thankful to be a part of such an amazing Percussion Ensemble at UVA and that friends get to play awesome music together.
Tickets are $10 General Admission / $9 UVA Faculty & Staff / $5 students / Free for UVA Students who reserve in advance. Tickets are available at the UVA Arts Box Office in the Culbreth building, online at https://tickets.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu/10765/10767 or by calling (434) 924-3376. UVA students need to reserve their tickets 24 hours in advance at the UVA Arts Box Office student ticket portal.
Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda (map). Parking is available in the Central Grounds parking garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Road, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner. Handicap parking is available in the small parking lot adjacent to Bryan Hall.
All events are subject to change.
Please contact the Music Department at 434.924.3052 or music@virginia.edu for more information.
Click here to add to your Google Calendar
