Sō Percussion performs Steve Reich

“The range of colors and voices that Sō Percussion coaxes from its menagerie is astonishing and entrancing.” – Billboard Magazine

Sō Percussion returns to Groundtone for a second day, presenting a free outdoor program of Steve Reich in the PS21 fields. The Grammy-winning ensemble will deliver masterfully nuanced and personal renditions of the minimalist composer's percussion repertoire.

In their own words:
- Adam Sliwinski: "My experience of Reich’s music has always been first and foremost about enjoyment. The pieces I got to know first were Electric Counterpoint and Nagoya Marimbas. I immediately felt like he was speaking a musical language that I understood."
- Jason Treuting: "When I got to Yale and started playing with the guys that became So, we put together every piece of his that we could when he visited the school, and played a show of a bunch of his percussion pieces. It was a rush to play for him then and it has led to a great relationship."
- Josh Quillen: "As a percussionist, his legacy is incredibly important because I don’t think any of us would be doing what we do if he hadn’t done what he did. I will always be grateful for his huge contribution to the percussion (and overall instrumental music) community."
- Eric Beach: "I remember really vividly the first time that I heard Reich’s music. Actually, it truly was one of those life-changing experiences while listening to music. I was in the car with a bunch of friends on a long road trip, and we had just gotten done listening to Mahler’s Second Symphony, during which I had drifted off to sleep (sorry Mahler! I swear, I like that music too). When I woke up I heard what I swore was ambient electronic music — turns out it was Music for 18 Musicians."

About Groundtone:
Groundtone is PS21’s annual weekend-long celebration of adventurous music by an eclectic selection of today’s most original voices. Performances and immersive experiences take place across the PS21 grounds, with concerts in the theater, fields, installations, and barns.

This year’s Groundtone features Sō Percussion in collaboration with Grammy-nominated songwriter Becca Stevens, harpist Parker Ramsay, and a full slate of artists. On June 21, PS21 will host Make Music Day with a sunrise musical procession created by Phil Kline, and Annea Lockwood’s Home Ground, a new site-specific work spanning the PS21 terrain. Groundtone is four days of audacious music, unexpected collaboration, sound, and community in the PS21 landscape.

About the artists:
For 25 years, Grammy-winning percussion quartet Sō Percussion has redefined chamber music for the 21st century through an "exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam" (The New Yorker). The group is celebrated for live performances that bring the vibrant percussion repertoire to life and for extensive collaborations across classical, pop, indie rock, contemporary dance, and theater, as well as for education and community work.

Sō has been a trusted partner for composers and collaborators including David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Nathalie Joachim, Dan Trueman, Kendall K. Williams, Angélica Negrón, Shodekeh Talifero, claire rousay, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Bora Yoon, Olivier Tarpaga, Bobby Previte, Matmos, and many others.

In May 2025, Sō Percussion embarks on a two-week residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) for two programs: one featuring new collaborations with Helado Negro and Kate Stables (This is the Kit), and the other featuring Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee Parpan (Ringdown) performing highlights from the Grammy-winning album Rectangles and Circumstance. Dates with Shaw and Ringdown also include the Barbican in London, the BOZAR in Brussels, Saffron Hall in Essex, and the 92NY in New York City.

Other recent highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Big Ears, Cal Performances, the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, the Kennedy Center, Penn Live Arts, the Hancher Auditorium, the Oklahoma Philharmonic, the Library of Congress, and touring Benin and Burkina Faso with Olivier Tarpaga.

Their latest album, Rectangles and Circumstance, with Caroline Shaw, was released in 2024 on Nonesuch Records. Other recent albums include A Record Of… on Brassland Music with Buke and Gase, and releases on the Sō Percussion Editions imprint, including a version of Julius Eastman’s Stay On It and Darian Donovan Thomas’s Individuate.

The members of Sō Percussion are the Edward T. Cone Performers-in-Residence at Princeton University. They pursue social and community outreach through their nonprofit umbrella, including a partnership with Pan in Motion; the Sō Laboratories concert series; a studio residency program in Brooklyn; and the Sō Percussion Summer Institute, an intensive two-week chamber music seminar for percussionists and composers.

Performers:
- Eric Cha-Beach
- Josh Quillen
- Adam Sliwinski
- Jason Treuting

All photos by Steven Taylor unless otherwise indicated.