Performance by Sandbox Percussion and Alicia Hall Moran

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Alicia Hall Moran, mezzo-soprano, is a multi-dimensional artist performing across the genres of Classical music, Theater, Art, and Jazz.

Ms. Moran starred as Bess on the National Tour of Porgy and Bess, visiting 20 major American cities. Uniquely, Ms. Moran has delivered performances of Gershwin at venues in the Classical, Theater, and Jazz idioms, from Jazz@Lincoln Center with the guitarist Bill Frisell to the Kennedy Center with National Symphony Orchestra Pops, from Porgy and Bess Suite with woodwind orchestra to duo with pianist Joseph Joubert at the Museum of Modern Art, and duo with pianist and husband Jason Moran for President Obama at San Francisco Jazz.

Ms. Moran debuted as Bess at the esteemed American Repertory Theater and also achieved her Broadway debut as Bess while understudying Audra McDonald, who earned a Tony Award for the role.

Ms. Moran performs recitals–both classical and jazz–at venues and festivals worldwide, most recently Art Institute of Chicago and Stavanger Hall, Norway, with 1B1 Orchestra and Bjergsted Jazz Ensemble. She currently tours the concert “Jazz Goes To The Opera,” originated for Opera Southwest and New Mexico Jazz Workshop, and travelling next to Festival Miami with musical director Shelton G. Berg.

Collaborating with a diverse array of artists, Ms. Moran created singing-acting roles in Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s award-winning dance Chapel/Chapter (international tour) and filmmaker Simone Leigh and Liz Magic Laser’s Breakdown, among others. She also appears in concert with legendary saxophonist Charles Lloyd in Dorothy Darr’s acclaimed film Arrows to Infinity. Ms. Moran performs currently in the live evening-length work Grace Notes by artist Carrie Mae Weems (seen recently at Spoleto Festival and Yale Repertory Theater). Future engagements include reiterations of Moran’s inventive musical works Black Wall Street and The Ice Project: Battle of the Carmens.

As a named artist at both the Venice Biennale (co-creating and performing Work Songs) and the Whitney Biennial (co-creating and performing BLEED), and commissioned by Museum of Modern Art, The Kitchen New York, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, ArtPublic for Miami Art Basel, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and National Sawdust, among many any others, Ms. Moran’s artistry represents a blend of passions refined in one instrument. She was trained at Barnard College (B. A. Music) and The Manhattan School of Music (B.M. Vocal Performance) studying with Adele Addison and Hilda Harris, and later David Jones and Shirley Verrett.

Sandbox Percussion:

Lauded by The Washington Post as “revitalizing the world of contemporary music” with “jaw-dropping virtuosity,” Sandbox Percussion has established themselves as a leading proponent in this generation of contemporary percussion chamber music. Brought together by their love of chamber music and the simple joy of playing together, Sandbox Percussion captivates audiences with performances that are both visually and aurally stunning. Through compelling collaborations with composers and performers, Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum and Terry Sweeney seek to engage a wider audience for classical music.

Last season Sandbox Percussion presented 35 performances throughout the United States. During a tour through California they gave the world premiere of  Thomas Kotcheff’s percussion quartet not only that one but that one & that too, and were presented on the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, CA. In collaboration with Ensemble HOWL they gave the world premiere of Amy Beth Kirsten’s Quixote at Montclair State University’s Peak Performances concert series. During the American Music Festival at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) in Troy, NY, Sandbox gave the world premiere of a concerto by Viet Cuong entitled Re(new)al along with the Albany Symphony. During the festival they also gave a recital which featured works by American composers Steve Reich, Christopher Cerrone, and David Crowell.

In addition to keeping a busy concert schedule Sandbox has also participated in various masterclasses and coachings at schools such as the Peabody Conservatory, Curtis Institute, the University of Southern California, Kansas University, Cornell University, and Furman University. While there they coached students on some of the most pivotal works in the percussion repertoire including Steve Reich’s Drumming, György Ligeti’s, Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel and John Cage’s Third Construction. These teaching experiences have inspired the quartet to pursue a role of pedagogy and mentorship for today’s young generation of musicians. This season Sandbox Percussion will present the second annual NYU Sandbox Percussion Seminar. This week long seminar invites percussion students from across the globe to rehearse and perform some of today’s leading percussion chamber music repertoire. A culminating performance is held at the iconic Brooklyn venue, National Sawdust.

Most recently has marked the quartet’s growing interest in composition. Last season Jonathan Allen’s Sonata and Victor Caccese’s A Part, Apart were featured on ten separate programs throughout the U.S. Sandbox also worked closely with composer David Crowell on a marimba arrangement of his saxophone sextet, Point Reyes. They gave the world premiere in November 2014 in Brooklyn, NY.

This season Sandbox will collaborate with The Industry, an opera company in Los Angeles, for the world premiere of Galileo, a 90-minute theatre piece by Andy Akiho. Other highlights will include a performance of Jerome Begin’s Wilderness in collaboration with the Brian Brooks Moving Company at Choregus Productions in Tulsa, OK, the first ever percussion quartet concert at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC, a performance of Gyorgy Ligeti’s Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel with mezzo-soprano Elspeth Davis at the Percussion Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, IN, and a second west coast tour including 11 performances from Seattle to Los Angeles. Sandbox Percussion endorses Pearl/Adams musical instruments, Vic Firth drumsticks and Remo drumheads.