(ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.) – The monthlong celebration of the 10^th anniversary of the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College continues on Friday, April 12, 2013, at 8p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater with a concert led by new-music ensemble So Percussion, accompanied by students from the Bard College Conservatory of Music Percussion Program.  The program features a wide array of contemporary works written by living composers, including Steve Reich’s Music for Pieces of Wood and compositions by members of So Percussion.

Each year, members of So Percussion and conservatory students and faculty perform a selection of recent masterworks, new music for percussion groups, and works by composers from the Bard community. About half of the works on the April program, including Paul Lansky’s modern masterpiece, Threads, were written for, or by, members of S? Percussion.

“Threads is a 10-movement ‘cantata’ for percussion quartet,” says So’s Adam Sliwinski. “In it, Paul beautifully synthesizes his love for traditional classical tropes with the cleverly permutated rhythms and layered melodies of his pioneering career in computer music. Over the past eight years, Threads has become widely regarded as a masterpiece for percussion quartet, having received hundreds of performances around the world.”

Other pieces on the program include Double or Nothing by Wally Gunn, Toccata for Vibraphone and Marimba by Anders Koppel, Ambient Resonances by Peter Klatzow, Invocaciones by Roberto Sierra, Postludes for Bowed Vibraphone by Elliot Cole, Bard Double Music by Jason Treuting and Josh Quillen, and Music for Pieces of Wood by Steve Reich.

This annual concert is the centerpiece of So Percussion’s immersive chamber music course at Bard. The student musicians appearing are Petra Elek, Amy Garapic, Chris Gunnell, and Zihan Yi. Students work closely with the four members of the ensemble — Eric Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting — throughout the year to bring these exciting pieces to life.

Tickets are $15; for more information call the Fisher Center box office at 845-758-7900 or visit Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts online.

For more than a decade, the musicians comprising So Percussion — Eric Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting — have redefined the modern percussion ensemble as a flexible, omnivorous entity, pushing its voice to the forefront of American musical culture. Praised by the New Yorker for their “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor, and bedlam,” their accomplishments now include 13 albums, tours throughout the United States and around the world, a dizzying array of collaborative projects, several ambitious educational programs, and a steady output of their own music.

Their music runs the gamut from percussion classics (Steve Reich, John Cage) to new commissions (David Lang, Steve Reich, Steve Mackey) to original music (Treuting’s Amid the Noise). So Percussion has performed this music at the Lincoln Center Festival, Carnegie Hall, Stanford Lively Arts, and many other venues. In addition, recent tours to Russia, Australia, Italy, Spain, Germany, and the Ukraine have brought them international acclaim. The members of S? Percussion are founders and codirectors of the So Percussion Summer Institute, held each year on the campus of Princeton University.