FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Percussion Ensemble, from the Jacobs School of Music, is one of three winners of the Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition, the most prestigious award in percussive chamber music performance.
The ensemble will be featured in a showcase concert at the society’s November international convention in Indianapolis, hosting hundreds of percussionists from around the world.
“The Percussion Department is incredibly proud of our students’ work throughout the 2022-23 academic year,” said Joseph Gramley, department chair. “We made four outstanding live recordings on campus in preparation for our audio submission to the competition, and our students’ amazing dedication and focus allowed them to now be named winners of this preeminent honor, the most distinguished in chamber music performance in our field. We are grateful for the support of Indiana University and the Percussive Arts Society in presenting our concert at the international conference this fall.”
The Percussion Ensemble, co-directed by Gramley and professors John Tafoya and Kevin Bobo, comprises all Jacobs percussion majors each semester, typically 17-24 members.
“Winning the 2023 IPEC and getting to perform on the largest stage in the percussion community at PASIC is an amazing honor and something I’ve been eager to participate in for a very long time,” said Drew Neal, a current master’s student returning as an associate instructor pursuing a Performer Diploma this fall. “The process of preparing these musically challenging works with my colleagues is always rewarding, and this past year, I feel that we definitely pushed ourselves past what we thought we could achieve—and it paid off! The submission involved four contrasting works that all had to be taken from live performances in the past year, which meant we only had one or two shots at getting a good enough take to submit. After waiting about six weeks after the due date, we heard back, and it was a sigh of relief and excitement!
“Working with my amazing colleagues has been wonderful, but our success would not be possible without the collaborative efforts between us and our all-star faculty in the Percussion Department. They work exceptionally hard to equip percussionists of all backgrounds with the tools they need to succeed in their careers no matter if it’s orchestral, new music, jazz, Afro-Cuban and Latin American music, chamber music, being an educator, etc. Working with each of them (including Sean Dobbins) individually is a dream come true, but to experience all their different perspectives at once is unreal.”