Recent News

  • October 5, 2010: PGD concert at St. Peter's, NYC
    The program included:
    Pitch Fork - Aaron Travers
    Stele - Gerard Grisey
    Entre Funerailles II - Mark Applebaum
    Warmth - David Lang
    Portrait of Eva Hesse - Anthony Gatto
    Open End - Ben Hackbarth
    Piano Phase - Steve Reich

    Here's an excerpt from Piano Phase. Thanks to Robert Anderson for this recording! It really captures the amazing sonic resonance created by this piece in that space.

Past News

  • April 2010: Music for Wrenches
    We just got back from a brief tour in western New York playing the music of composers Paul Coleman and David Plylar. Here's a shot of us playing Paul Coleman's amazing set of constructed wrenches in Rosch Hall at SUNY Fredonia.

    • Photo by Lori Deemer.

    ...and taking it into the community (at Mayer Hardware in Rochester, NY).

  • October 2009: New Album Released
    Stuart Suanders Smith: The Links Series of Vibraphone Essays was released in September by New World Records. A number of amazing percussionists collaborated to record this double album. Steve's contribution is Links #2. Click Here for details.

  • September 2009: Bang on a Can Summer Festival
    We spent the end of the summer at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. The Marathon was absolutely amazing! We performed Julia Wolfe's drumset quartet Dark Full Ride with David Cossin and another Banglewood fellow, Brian Calhoon; Antheil's Ballet Mecanique; performed traditional music with Uzbeki and Kyrgystani musicians, and much, much more!

    • PGD playing Steve Reich's Piano Phase in the Sol LeWitt wall drawing gallery during the festival.

  • August 2009: Banff Centre Residency
    In June we participated in an amazing residency at the Banff Centre with percussionists Steven Schick, Aiyun Huang, Anders Loguin & Bob Becker. Highlights included performances of Berio's Linea, Steve Reich's masterpiece Drumming, and the premiere of a new work by John Luther Adams titled Inuksuit. Met loads of talented colleagues from all across the globe and had a great time trekking out into the woods with drums.

    • A performance in Banff of Steve Reich's Drumming. Leah Scholes has her back to the camera. (Thanks to the Banff Centre for the photograph)

  • Drums in the Mountains
    Here's a link to a video that was shot for the New Yorker magazine of the performance of John Luther Adams' Inuksuit.

Audio

  • Pitch Fork/Steel Recitative, a piece we commissioned from Aaron Travers.
  • Ladzekpo, Minimalist (from Five Illusionist Paraphrases) by Martin Scherzinger.
  • Once Removed by John Fitz Rogers.

Projects

Proper Glue duo is working on commissioning a new work from composer David Plylar. Fracternal Twins will be for two percussionists, and is built on a fractals-inspired framework.

Proper Glue duo is also collaborating on a new work, Debris, by Paris-based composer Jon Forshee

Melanie and Steve are part of a commissioning/performance consortium of a new percussion concerto by composer James Romig. The recently completed work is in 2 movements. "Portraits" is scored for 4 drums, 3 metals and woodblock. "Landscapes" is for vibes, crotales and 3 cymbals. Melanie & Steve will be performing it in the near future. Dates to come.