BRATTLEBORO — On Saturday, March 25, at 7 p.m., the UMass Percussion Ensemble returns to the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) to perform in the Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Gallery. Admission is free for BMAC members and youth 18 and under, and $5 for all others. Purchase tickets at brattleboromuseum.org, at the door, or call 802-257-0124, ext. 101.
The ensemble, made up of graduate and undergraduate percussion students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, will play works for a wide range of percussion instruments, by Richard Rodney Bennett, Ross Edwards, Paul Lanksy, Bruno Mantovani, Akemi Naito, and Toru Takemitsu. Performers include Ignacio Corrales, Philip Hanifin, Kira Johnson, Nicholas LaCava, Parker Legere, Tyler Mosca, Maxwell Palmer, and Sejeong Pyo.
“We love hosting this type of performance at the museum,” said BMAC Director Danny Lichtenfeld in a news release. “Contemporary music and contemporary art are a perfect match.”
Ayano Kataoka, the ensemble's director, is a percussionist and marimbist known for her brilliant and dynamic technique, as well as the elegance and artistry she brings to her performances.
A leading proponent of contemporary repertoire, Kataoka has participated in several consortiums to commission works for solo marimba or chamber ensemble from such composers as Charles Wuorinen, Martin Bresnick, Paul Lansky, and Alejandro Viñao. She was the first percussionist to be chosen for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Society Two. Kataoka joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2008.