The McGill Percussion Ensemble was founded by Professor Pierre Béluse in 1969. Under his direction, the ensemble’s first recording Percussion won le Grand Prix du Disque — Canada in 1976. When Pierre Béluse retired in 2001, D’Arcy Philip Gray led the ensemble between 2001 and 2005. Since 2006, Aiyun Huang and Fabrice Marandola have acted as co-directors. Under their direction, the group has participated in international festivals including MNM, MusiMars, Cool Drummings, Made Music New York, Scotia Festival of Music, and Open Ears Festival. The ensemble has an on-going Composer-in-Residence program featuring current McGill composition students. For the 2012-2013 year, Nicolas Hyatt and Jason Noble are taking on these exciting roles. The ensemble also participates in international commission projects. Recent new works from Mark Applebaum and James Wood have been highlights.
Musicians: Bryan Allen, Evan Bowen, Will Bennett, Sean Donaldson, Colin Frank, Zachary Hale, Elliott Harrison, Ryan Kelly, Bryn Lutek, Krystina Marcoux, Chris Middleton, Ryan Packard, Christian Smith, Matthew Tsai, Karen Yu.
Guests: organ: Geoffrey Conquer; keyboards: Jeremy Chaulk, Bryan Kelly; voice: Nora Engonopoulos, Vanessa Oude-Reimerink, Tracy Smith.
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