LAYERS
Gene Koshinski
"Gene Koshinski Named 32nd Annual Recipient of The ASCAP Foundation Nissim Prize." See Reviews at the bottom of this page for the full article.
Percussionist and composer Gene Koshinski has created a niche for himself as a champion of new music. His newest CD release is entitled Layers, a collection of original chamber music for percussion. This album is full of color and life and offers the listener an extremely diverse listening experience. Layers offers definitive performances of 21st Century works that have been performed across the globe, on their way to becoming standard works in the contemporary percussion repertoire. One highlight of the album is Koshinski's brand new work, Concerto for Marimba and Choir with Percussion. While Koshinski is featured as the soloist, he is joined by percussionists Jeremy Craycraft, Jianpeng Feng, and Brett Jones, and the University of Minnesota Duluth Concert Chorale and University Singers. This recording of over 150 performers was conducted by Tina Thielen-Gaffey and recorded at the Sacred Heart Music Center, an acoustical gem hidden away in Duluth, MN. In the middle of the album, the works And So the Wind Blew... and Song and Dance are forged together to create a 40–minute journey inspired by the sounds of nature, gamelan, Africa, and Latin America through the use of skins, metals, woods, rattles, and dozens of wind chimes made from copper, brass, aluminum, bamboo, glass, seashells, and coconuts. For this presentation, Koshinski is joined by percussionists Benjamin Toth for And So the Wind Blew... and Tim Broscious for Song and Dance. The album is rounded out with the inclusion of Koshinski's marimba duo Together and Not, performed with Charles Fricker; the popular multiple percussion duet As One, performed with Tim Broscious; and Ceci N'est Pas Un Jouet, a work focused on exploring the sounds of music boxes, performed with Michael Correa.
| TRACKS | ||
| 1 | As One (2007) | 4:34 |
| 2 | Together and Not (2001) | 7:58 |
| 3 | And So the Wind Blew (2009) | 23:45 |
| 4-5 Song and Dance (2009) | 15:19 | |
| I. | Song of the Metals | 10:01 |
| II. | Dance of the Drums | 5:18 |
| 6 | Ceci N'est Pas Un Jouet (2009) | 5:00 |
| 7-10 Concerto for Marimba and Choir with Percussion (2010) | 14:58 | |
| Introduction: Shout! | 2:24 | |
| I | Layers | 2:54 |
| II | Memento | 4:57 |
| III. | Strike | 4:43 |
| Total Playing Time | 71:30 | |
REVIEWS
New York, NY, January 11, 2012: In announcing the 2012 Rudolf Nissim Award winner, Paul Williams, President of The ASCAP Foundation, congratulated Gene Koshinski, whose winning work for full orchestra, entitled Concerto for Marimba and Choir, was selected from among 230 entries. Williams said, “The ASCAP Foundation honors the memory of Dr. Rudolf Nissim and his dedication to ASCAP’s Concert Composers by hosting this annual competition, for which a panel of conductors awards a prize of $5000 to the best score submitted.”
Dr. Rudolf Nissim, former head of ASCAP's International Department and a devoted friend of contemporary composers, established this annual prize through a bequest to The ASCAP Foundation. The Prize is presented annually to an ASCAP concert composer for a work requiring a conductor that has not been performed professionally. A jury of conductors selects the winning score.
Percussionist and composer Gene Koshinski is currently Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Minnesota Duluth and in demand as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and abroad. His music has been performed in countries as diverse as Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Slovenia, Jordan and Canada. Koshinski has worked with many notable performance and entertainment organizations and artists, including The Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Ballet, Lehigh Valley Choral Arts, The Philadelphia Boys Choir, NFL Films, Late Show with David Letterman, Mary Wilson (the Supremes), David Samuels, Wycliffe Gordon and The Lettermen. He is currently section percussionist for the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and a member of Nebojsa Zivkovic’s Jovan Perkussion Projekt. His work for NFL Films can be heard on the Emmy award-winning soundtrack A Century of NFL. Performances have also been heard on the CBS, PBS, and EPSN television networks, as well as NPR. In addition, he has recorded for the Naxos, Innova, and Equilibrium record labels. Koshinski is a founding member of the Quey Percussion Duo, a touring group established to generate new works for percussion while also bringing standard repertoire to a broad audience. He is also director of percussion at the annual Performing Arts International Summer Music Festival in Kingston, PA. Koshinski served as a judge for the 2009 Percussive Arts Society Solo Competition at the PAS International Convention in Indianapolis. He recently published a method book entitled The Additive Method of Two-Mallet Study, which focuses on keyboard percussion technique and performance. As an advocate for new music, Koshinski has commissioned and premiered works by renowned composers including Stuart Saunders Smith, Alejandro Viñao, David Macbride and Dave Hollinden. He holds degrees from West Chester University (BM) and The Hartt School (MM and DMA). His method book, solo albums and over 20 published compositions are distributed internationally, with many of his compositions receiving frequent global performances. Gene Koshinski is sponsored by Korogi Marimbas, Sabian Cymbals, Remo Drum Heads, and Innovative Percussion and his works are published by HoneyRock, Bachovich, and C. Alan Publications. For more information: www.genekoshinski.com
The Jury also awarded Honorable Mention to: Ted Hearne (Brooklyn, NY) for Partition, a 20-minute work for chorus and orchestra; Matthew Peterson (Bloomington, IN) for Hyperborea, an 11-minute work for orchestra; and Jonathan Sokol. (Defiance, OH) for Gradient : Waves, a 12-minute work for chamber orchestra.
The judges for this year’s Nissim Prize were: Michael Morgan, Music Director of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, and Artistic Director of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, California; Alan Pierson, Artistic Director and Conductor of Alarm Will Sound and the Brooklyn Philharmonic as well as Principal Conductor of Crash Ensemble, based in Dublin, Ireland; and Diane Wittry, Music Director of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra (PA) and Artistic Director of the International Cultural Exchange Program for Classical Musicians with the Sarajevo Philharmonic
About The ASCAP Foundation
Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States. www.ascapfoundation.org
Layers – Gene Koshinski
Equilibrium
This is the second CD by percussionist and composer Gene Koshinski and features recordings of seven recent solo and ensemble compositions, including his most recent work, "Concerto for Marimba and Choir with Percussion," which was awarded the 2012 ASCAP/ Rudolf Nissim Award. (The concerto was selected from among 230 entries.) The sound quality on the CD is superb and the performances are first-rate. The first six tracks feature Koshinski's percussion duo compositions. The CD opens with "As One," a new standard in the duo percussion repertoire. The piece is written for two identical setups and a shared marimba (one person on each side). The complex, hocketed music is masterfully executed, and I appreciated listening to the panned mix. (This would be a great tool for someone learning this piece.) "Together & Not," a challenging four-mallet duo for two marimbas, begins with a haunting choral and transitions to rhythmic and unrelenting melodic lines between the two marimbas. One of my favorite pieces is "And So the Wind Blew…." This hypnotic, gamelaninspired piece is a stark contrast to the rest of the album and creates a beautiful soundscape of colors. Also included on the CD is "Ceci N'Est Pas Un Jouet" scored for two handle-operated music boxes. This witty and playful piece was an unsuspected surprise and is pure fun. The highlight of the CD is the "Concerto for Marimba and Choir with Percussion." This work is in a traditional three-movement concerto form with a brief introduction. Koshinski says, "This work is the product of my vision to combine these two ancient art forms [vocal and percussion performance] through a contemporary lens," and he delivers on this promise. The percussion writing is exciting and idiomatic while the chorale writing mixes traditional and extended vocal techniques to create a beautiful canvas for the marimba soloist to shine. His use of choir in place of an orchestra is refreshing and inventive. This piece is destined to become a standard in the marimba literature.
The CD offers a great mix of various percussion genres, is packed with great
performances, and has something for everyone. I have had this CD in my car for
the past month, and every time I listen to it, I hear something new and exciting. I commend Koshinski and all the players for their performances, recording, and programming of this disc. ~ Dave Gerhart
percussive notes 74 MAY 2012
