Sō Percussion brings A Gun Show to the Quick Center stage on March 2 | Press Releases

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (January 20, 2017) —Sō Percussion will take the Quick Center for the Arts stage on Thursday, March 2, 2017 at 8 p.m. with their production of A Gun Show which began as a way for the artists to process their emotions after the unfathomable school shootings in Newtown, Conn. , but has since grown into a much larger collaborative process and conversation.

An exploration of issues such as race, economic inequality, public safety and constitutional rights through music, text and movement, A Gun Show has been met with critical acclaim.

With its innovative multi-genre original productions, sensational interpretations of modern classics , and “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam,” ( The New Yorker ), Sō Percussion redefines the scope of the modern percussion ensemble. For more than 15 years, this ensemble, formed by Eric Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting, has engaged in creative collaborations and released 16 albums.

The group is joined for the second time by collaborators Ain Gordon (director), and performer/choreographer Emily Johnson, who helped the ensemble find “beauty amid the chaos of everyday life.”

A myriad of artistic and musical styles and influences splash across the canvas of A Gun Show : childhood memories in the woods; a sing-song text duet that masks darker memories; the organized violence that many percussion instruments were designed for; the patient and hopeful mourning of the blues; the harmless tinkling resonance of a disassembled sniper rifle — all play a part in Sō Percussion’s dreamscape.

For more information on Sō Percussion in A Gun Show and to purchase tickets, on sale now at $35 and $45 for the public and $27 for Quick Center members, please visit quickcenter.com or call the Box Office at 203-254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396. This event is sponsored by The New England Foundation for the Arts, The Westport Inn, and WPKN.

The New York Times has closely followed Sō Percussion’s 15th anniversary season with a series of reviews and mentions:

"Entertaining, virtuosic, occasionally lyrical, but most often joyfully loud." Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, February 16, 2016 — The New York Times

"Beyond virtuosic, So Percussion really has no need to prove its technical bona fides." Zachary Woolfe, July 21, 2016 — The New York Times

"To hear these players, with their clarity and vivacity, in Mr. Reich’s music was like staring at a Rothko canvas." David Allen, July 22, 2016 — The New York Times

"The players...seem to have developed telepathic powers of communication." Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, August 1, 2016 — The New York Times