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An Evening of Steelpan in New York at NYU

NYU Steinhardt - Music and Performing Arts Profession Program in Percussion Studies presents NYU STEEL


 Another When Steel Talks Exclusive           © 2011 When Steel Talks - All Rights Reserved

 

NY Steel Ensemble performs during their Spring 2011 concert

New York, New York, USA - Imagine living in New York and studying at one of the most respected universities, and participating in one of the most challenging of music programs, in the world.  Introduce the edginess, and the uncompromising and great expectations of New York; add the backdrop of the political and musical history of the Village coupled with the mandatory mastering of the steelpan music instrument - and you have a gold mine.  New York, already the home of the most competitive, largest and best community-based steel orchestras in North America, now has a bonafide world class university program producing outstanding world class percussionists who are truly steelpan musicians. Add the vision of Dr. Jonathan Haas and directorship and talent of Joshua Quillen.  Almost overnight (well not really, it’s been seven years in the making), it has become possible that if you are a percussionist who desires steelpan in your portfolio, NYU (New York University) may just be the best place in the world to make that happen.

NYU Steel on stage during their Spring 2011 concert at the Frederick Loewe Theatre

The near-capacity audience at NYU’s Frederick Loewe Theatre in New York city’s Greenwich Village was treated to a wide variety of musical pleasures that took them from the music works of Phillip Glass, through that of Len “Boogsie” Sharpe and along the way, a well-known Gloria Estefan piece, among others.  NYU Steel (the New York University Steel Drum Ensemble) is like no other.  No other steelpan ensemble can boast such a wide and eclectic musical repertoire.

NY Steel Ensemble performs during their Spring 2011 concert

A few in the audience had already experienced a foretaste of what was on the program for NYU Steel’s annual Spring concert when they attended the performance of the mini-ensemble on Monday at Washington Square Park just around the corner.  On this night, the full complement of eighteen musicians took music lovers on an almost ninety-minute melodic episode that catered to practically every musical taste imaginable.  It was also a case of ‘musical steelpans’ with musicians switching instruments throughout the evening - the result of the requirement that each student become proficient at all the voices of pans featured in the ensemble.

NY Steel director Josh Quillen during the Spring 2011 concert
NY Steel director Joshua Quillen during the Spring 2011 concert

The response was effusive from those in attendance, and the ensemble’s music director Josh Quillen (who also arranged several pieces) engaged the crowd after almost every selection, making sure the crowd knew that they were part of the show - which culminated with them being invited on stage at the grand finale to observe first hand the art of playing the instruments.  During intermission and at the end of the show, the man responsible for the existence of NYU Steel, the Director of the NYU Steinhardt Percussion Program, Jonathan Haas, took time to mingle with each and every attendee who sought a bit of his time.  It was in 2007 that the NYU Steel Drum Ensemble delivered their first presentation at the Frederick Loewe Theater; their last annual Spring celebration was in 2010 they took the audience on a memorable journey from “Glass” to “Boogsie.” 

NY Steel Ensemble performs during their Spring 2011 concert

Dr. Haas was obviously quite proud of the steelpan accomplishments of his percussion majors, telling WST (When Steel Talks) in an interview afterwards “....as you heard in the concert tonight, they just memorized an hour and a half of some very, very difficult music, very complex...”

Member of NY Steel Ensemble performs solo

The show was free and open to the public and while those inside enjoyed NYU Steel’s offerings to the fullest, there could be seen people outside the theatre, pausing as they walked past.  With faces pressed up against the glass doors of the theatre and peering inside, they were intent on the scene unfolding on the stage not too far from them, but seemingly unaware that they could have entered and joined those already in the audience.  Mark your calendars next year for the NYU Steel’s 2012 Spring concert.

Meet Dr. Jonathan Haas

 

WST images and video captured with the expressed permission of NYU Steinhardt, Program in Percussion Studies,  steinhardt.nyu.ed/music.

Contact NYU Steel:
Jonathan Haas, Director - New York University, 35 West 4th Street, New York, NY. 10012
Phone:  1 (212) 992-9466     Email: jonathan.haas@nyu.edu

Program

J’Ouvert Barrio  Roaring Lion/arr. Josh Quillen
Afro Pan  Jim Royle
Sideways Josh Quillen
Piano Etude No. 1 Philip Glass/arr. Josh Quillen
Piano Etude No. 5 Philip Glass/arr. Josh Quillen
Exit Music (For a Film) Radiohead/arr. Steve Butters
   
NYU STEEL Combo
Amazing Grace Traditional/arr. Josh Quillen
NYU STEEL Combo
The Hammer David Rudder/arr. Matt Dudack
   
Intermission
   
Conscious Chutney Ras Shorty I/arr. Liam Teague
I Still Dream Roger Zahab
 
Jacqueline Russo, Double Seconds
   
Stella by Starlight Victor Young/arr. Andrew Broadwater
Shaw Park Len “Boogsie” Sharpe
Reach Gloria Estefan/arr. Kendall Williams
Forever Soca Matt Dudack

About the Ensemble

NY Steel Ensemble performs

NYU STEEL is a significant performance ensemble within the NYU Steinhardt Percussion Program, where Professor Jonathan Haas serves as Director. Under the direction of Joshua Quillen, NYU STEEL is dedicated to exploring the art of steel pans to the fullest, performing rare compositions and arrangements ranging in scope from Philip Glass and Jason Trueting, to David Rudder and Lord Kitchener from Trinidad and Tobago, where the art form was invented. The ensemble presents several unique performances each year, collaborating with composers globally, while enriching the steel drum repertoire. Additional NYU STEEL productions worthy of anticipation include a CD release party for the exclusive recording of Philip Glass’ Piano Etudes, arranged by Joshua Quillen, which is scheduled for release by Orange Mountain Music in May 2011, as well as promotional and tribute performances for Glass’ upcoming 75th birthday.

Josh Quillen has forged a unique identity in the contemporary music world as all-around percussionist, expert steel drum performer (lauded as "softly sophisticated" by the New York Times), and composer. His collaborations with other composers frequently incorporate the steel drums as a core element. 

A member of the ensemble So Percussion since 2006, Josh has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Lincoln Center Festival, Stanford Lively Arts, and dozens of other venues in the United States. In that time, So Percussion has toured Russia, Spain, Australia, Italy, Germany, and Scotland. He has had the opportunity to work closely with Steve Reich, Steve Mackey, Paul Lansky, David Lang, Matmos, Dan Deacon, and many others.

Josh started performing on the steel drums at Dover High School in Ohio, an interest that continued at the University of Akron, where Dr. Larry Snider founded one of the first collegiate steel bands in the United States. He traveled to Trinidad & Tobago in 2002, performing with the "Phase II Pan Groove" ensemble under Len "Boogsie" Sharpe. This interest in the traditional steel drum music of Trinidad ran in parallel with Josh's education in western music, first at Akron, and then at the Yale School of Music with marimba soloist Robert Van Sice, where he received his Masters degree in 2006.

These parallel interests led Josh to break ground in the use of the steel drums in contemporary classical music. To date, he has commissioned over a dozen pieces for steel drums from composers such as Stuart Saunders Smith, Roger Zahab, Dan Trueman, and Paul Lansky. In 2010, Steven Mackey's quartet It Is Time - commissioned for So Percussion by Carnegie Hall and Chamber Music America - featured Josh on a new microtonal lead pan in its Carnegie Hall premiere, receiving rave reviews in the New York Times.

Josh's compositions for So Percussion are featured in Imaginary City, an evening length work that appeared on the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2009 Next Wave Festival, as well as the site-specific Music for Trains in Southern Vermont. Other ensembles to play his pieces and arrangements include Matmos, PLork, The Janus Trio, Adele Meyers and Dancers, The University of Akron Steel Band, and the New York University Steel Band.

An avid educator, Josh is co-director of the So Percussion Summer Institute, an intensive workshop for college-aged percussionists on the campus of Princeton University. He is also co-director of a new percussion program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where So Percussion is ensemble in residence beginning fall of 2011, and is the director of the NYU Steel Band.

NYU STEEL

Andrew Broadwater

Jeffrey Eng

 Danielle Fortner 

Paul Frucht

James Gibian 

Andrew Kendris

Matthew Lau

Yi-Hsuan Lin

Jeremy Lowe

Andy McBeath

Carson Moody

Matthew Overbay

Jamie Pittle

Becky Reid

Alex Reynolds

Jacqueline Russo

Aaron Silberstein

Tai-Jung Tsai

Frank Tyl

Kendall Williams

James Woolf

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