Arcomusical
3:30pm doors • 4pm show
About
Projeto Arcomusical returns to National Sawdust to celebrate the release their second album, Spinning in the Wheel. The album will be available on March 8th, 2019 on National Sawdust Tracks.
Spinning in the Wheel includes some of the ensemble’s finest playing to date on excellent compositions by Elliot Cole, Alexis C Lamb, Kyle Flens, and Gregory Beyer. These works not only display Arcomusical’s vision for where the tradition of the berimbau is going, they also pay respect to that tradition’s origins. Compositions such as Cole’s “Roda” and Beyer’s “Traíra” pay homage to the historical and current berimbau playing of capoeira Mestres Gato Preto, Traíra, Rogério, and Moraes, as well as to the pioneering musical voice of famous Brazilian percussionist, Naná Vasconcelos.
Projeto Arcomusical worked closely with Dan Nichols and Aphorism Studios, Inc to capture the very best audio quality, and with Evan Chapman and Kevin Eikenberg of Four/Ten Media to deliver unbelievably beautiful videos.
Projeto Arcomusical is:
Gregory Beyer, Artistic Director
Alexis C Lamb
Kyle Flens
Daniel Eastwood
Raychel Taylor
Ethan Martin
“Projeto Arcomusical doesn’t miss a beat. The sextet is so tuned in to one another that at times it becomes difficult (if not impossible) to tell where one instrument ends and another begins. The players are so precise, so blissfully engaged with their instruments and one another that the individual pieces and the individual players melt away, and you begin to discover the uniquely captivating character of the instrument itself.” — Maggie Molloy, Second Inversion, December 5, 2016
Tickets
The Artists
Fulbright Scholar, composer, educator, and “prodigiously talented percussionist” (Chicago Classical Review),Gregory Beyer is a contemporary music specialist who blends the disciplines of orchestral, jazz, and world music into a singular artistic voice. Beyer is Associate Professor and Head of Percussion Studies at Northern Illinois University, and a core member of the Chicago-based new music ensemble, Dal Niente. Through support from the Fulbright program, he spent the 2015-2016 year in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, teaching at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, training capoeira Angola with Contra Mestra Alcione Oliveira of the Capoeira Angola Dobrada Association, and working with a tremendous group of musicians, Arcomusical Brasil, with whom he traveled to Africa to present and perform at the international Bow Music Conference.
Alexis C. Lamb is a composer, percussionist, and educator who is interested in fostering communities of positive and genuine music-making. Lamb is the Education and Publications Director for Arcomusical, a non-profit organization that advocates for the artistic advancement of the Afro-Brazilian berimbau and related musical bows. Lamb’s song cycle for berimbau entitled Meia earned her a 2018 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award and can be found on MeiaMeia: New Music for Berimbau, released on Innova Recordings.
Lamb is currently earning a Master of Music degree in Composition at Yale University School of Music. Her undergraduate degrees in both Music Education and Percussion Performance are from Northern Illinois University. Prior to going back to graduate school, she was the 6-12th grade band director for Meridian CUSD 223 in Stillman Valley, Illinois. Her major teachers include Hannah Lash, Gregory Beyer, Ben Wahlund, Michael Mixtacki, Robert Chappell, David Maki, Brian Penkrot, and Lauren Ryals.
Daniel Eastwood is a versatile percussionist and music educator. He prides himself in maintaining a wide range of musical knowledge from traditional to contemporary music spanning the world.
Eastwood is a co-founder of Project Two, a contemporary percussion duo dedicated to performing percussion music of our time. He is also an active member of The Chicago Bears Drumline, The Chicago Bulls Drumline, and the contemporary berimbau sextet Projecto Arcomusical.
Daniel has performed with a variety of ensembles including KANSAS, The Elgin Symphony Orchestra, The Illinois Philharmonic, The Fox Valley Orchestra, and the 2008 and 2009 World Champion Indoor Percussion Ensemble, Pioneer Indoor, Eastwood has shared programs with ensembles such as Third Coast Percussion, Eighth Blackbird, YarnWire, Fleetwood Mac, xBishopx, and Magic!. As an active percussionist, he has presented music to audiences at such venues as The Juilliard School, Boston Conservatory, National Sawdust, Millennium Park, House of Blues Chicago, The Museum of Contemporary Arts in Chicago, Soldier Field, The United Center, Northern Illinois University, Eastern Illinois University, Bowling Green State University, The Lynden Sculpture Garden, and featured at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention.
Daniel’s interest in percussion instruments and techniques from around the world have led him to study music from Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and The Dominican Republic. In the summer of 2015 he traveled to Brazil to showcase a program of twelve new works with the contemporary Berimbau sextet Projecto Arcomusical. Eastwood’s experience also led him to travel to Puerto Rico in 2012 where he studied both the country’s traditional music and its popular music. In 2013 and 2014 Daniel traveled with The La Tortuga Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to provide health education and medical assistance to the community and surrounding areas of Emiliano Zapata, Mexico, where he taught various rhythms to the young children of the village.
In addition to performing, Daniel Eastwood remains an active percussion educator. Eastwood is currently on staff with the world class ensemble, Cavaliers Indoor Percussion. He has worked with many high schools in Illinois including William Fremd High School, Normal Community High School, Bolingbrook High School, Kaneland High School, and El Paso-Gridley High School. Daniel is currently the percussion instructor at Plainfield North High School and Wheaton-Warrenville South High School.
Eastwood holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from Northern Illinois University where he studied with Dr. Greg Beyer, Dr. Richard Holly, Professor Robert Chappell, and Professor Michael Mixtacki. During his time at Northern Illinois University, he performed with The Latin Jazz Ensemble, Philharmonic, Wind Ensemble, Steel Band, Berimbau Sextet, Chinese Music Ensemble, Afro-Cuban Drumming Group, Marching Band, Percussion Ensemble, and Jazz Combo. Daniel was also a percussion instructor for the NIU Community School of the Arts.
Ethan H. Martin is a spirited contemporary percussionist. Highlights from his undergraduate years include a World Music Showcase concert at the 2010 Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the North American premiere of Per Nørgård’s A Light Hour for percussion ensemble, and master class performances for Roger Braun, Andy Harnsberger, Michael Udow, and Third Coast Percussion. He is also a former member of The Handphibians, a Madison, WI based community percussion ensemble, dedicated to promoting the music and cultural traditions of Brazil.
As a member of DeKalb, IL based Barb City Percussion, Ethan has performed both locally and abroad. In 2017, the ensemble was invited to Costa Rica to take part in the Fifth International Festival of Percussion Ensembles. As featured artists, Barb City Percussion performed a full program of music in the capital city of San José, presented an outreach concert in Limón, and led master classes for students at the Centro Nacional de la Música. The ensemble had the honor to present the world premiere of Amniorrhexis by Chicago-based composer Brian Penkrot and commonly features Mångata by Kyle Krause on their programs.
Ethan’s varied musical interests collide as a performer with Projeto Arcomusical, a world music sextet reimagining the Afro-Brazilian berimbau through a repertoire of unique, powerful, original concert chamber music. As a member of Projeto Arcomusical, Ethan has performed at Harris Theater in Chicago for the inaugural Ear Taxi Festival and at National Sawdust in Brooklyn for the 2017 Percussion Marathon hosted by Ian Rosenbaum and Andy Akiho. Additionally, he has performed and/or assisted in Arcomusical presentations at educational institutions including the Juilliard School, Boston Conservatory, Princeton, UMass, Baldwin Wallace University, Bowling Green State University, Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin – Madison, University of Illinois Urbana – Champaign, Illinois State University, Kansas State University, Western Washington University, and the Cornish College of the Arts.
Ethan earned undergraduate degrees in Music Performance, Neurobiology, and Zoology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and is currently a Graduate Teaching Assistant in percussion at Northern Illinois University. His primary teachers include Dr. Anthony Di Sanza, Dr. Gregory Beyer, and Thomas Ross.
Kyle Flens is a multi-faceted percussionist. Based in Chicago, he is a member of Projeto Arcomusical and Ensemble Dal Niente.
Kyle maintains an active and rigorous performance schedule each year. Recent highlights include concerts at the Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enriquez (Mexico City, Mexico), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the 5th International Festival of Percussion Ensembles (San José, Costa Rica), Institutio Inhotim (Minas Gerais, Brazil), and the Winter Festival in Ouro Preto and Mariana (Minas Gerais, Brazil). As an advocate for new music, he has premiered compositions by Eliza Brown, Elliot Cole, Julio Estrada, Robert Fleisher, Erin Gee, Robert Honstein, Kyle Krause, Alexis C. Lamb, Brian Penkrot, Ben Wahlund, and Katherine Young.
Kyle’s schedule as an educator is equally as active, recently giving clinics and master classes at Western Washington University, Kansas State University, Instituto Nacional de la Música (San José, Costa Rica), the Juilliard School, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He has been in residency at University of California Davis, Brandeis University, Brown University, and Stanford University. Kyle received his Master of Music with a Performer’s Certificate from Northern Illinois University and his Bachelor of Music from Towson University as a Presser Scholar. While at NIU, he was the winner of the school’s concerto competition and received a graduate fellowship award.
Kyle can be heard on Arcomusical’s debut album MeiaMeia on Innova Recordings, as well as the ensemble’s sophomore album Spinning in the Wheel on National Sawdust Tracks. Since its release in 2016, MeiaMeia has been featured on WNYC, WBEZ, and NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. Kyle performs on Pearl drums and Adams percussion instruments, and is honored to be an endorsed artist.
Raychel Taylor is a percussionist and music educator. Originally from Northern California, Raychel has moved around the country in pursuit of music and higher education. She earned Bachelor of Music degrees in performance and music theory from the University of North Texas and a Master of Music degree from Northern Illinois University. Over the past two years, Raychel has cultivated her passion for Latin percussion, Balinese gamelan, and Ethnomusicology. In addition to being the Operations Manager for Arcomusical, Raychel teaches in Naperville and is a percussionist for the DeKalb-based band Salsa del Norte.
