Sō Percussion returns to Groundtone for a second day, this time to present a free program of Steve Reich, staged outdoors in the beautiful PS21 fields. The Grammy-winning ensemble will deliver masterfully nuanced and personal renditions of the minimalist composer’s percussion repertoire.

Sō Percussion performs Steve Reich

PS21 Center for Contemporary Performance

Known for their “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (The New Yorker) and their “mix of consummate skill and quirky charm” (New York Times), Grammy-winning percussion quartet Sō Percussion kicks off PS21’s second annual Groundtone weekend. In this special concert, they’ll team up with Grammy-nominated songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Becca Stevens.

Sō Percussion with Becca Stevens

EPSG:4326

Kilbourn Concert Series: Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion, featuring Ringdown

Eastman School of Music

Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion dissolve the boundaries between classical and pop, drawing inspiration from sources as varied as James Joyce, ABBA, American roots music, and Christian hymns. 

LBMF Night Two Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion

Laguna Playhouse

Contemporary percussion chamber group Sō Percussion leads a master class with students from the studio of Matthew Strauss

Sō Percussion

Alice Pratt Brown Hall

Our Pines of Rome concert will be really exciting. Music of pulsating living nature vs the miracles of human engineering.  Do you remember feeling utterly peaceful standing in the middle of a thick green forest? Brimming with life. A miracle. Or the sense of majestic flow sitting at the banks of a broad river? And then compare it with your daily wonder of technology, from the intricate workings of your computer to simply using “google search.

Pines of Rome

Civic Center Music Hall

A group of today’s most rhythmically dazzling composers show that anything is possible in the hands of Sō Percussion—an ensemble that has “set the New York standard for percussion innovation” (The New Yorker). Hear New York premieres by MacArthur Genius and renowned jazz pianist Vijay Iyer; award-winning choreographer and percussionist Olivier Tarpaga, who will perform alongside the group; and the boldly imaginative multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón. The program also includes an original and evolving work by founding member Jason Treuting.

Carnegie Hall

 Djandjoba or “The Big Gathering” is the final performance of the Timbuktu Grooves Festival celebrating the vibrant sounds and rhythms of the African continent and its diaspora. This concert transports listeners spiritually to West Africa by the calming sound of the kora, an ancient 21-string African harp, with a duet performed by master griots Wassa Kouyate from Mali and Flatie Dembele from Burkina Faso. The program will also highlight contemporary African music played by Sō Percussion, Dafra Kura band from Burkina Faso, and the Princeton University Afrobeat Ensemble.

Timbuktu Grooves Festival: Djandjoba

Princeton University

The singular new-music ensemble Sō Percussion, celebrated for its “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (New Yorker), plays two concerts highlighting three millennial voices who are part of an inspiring generation of women composers currently revitalizing the contemporary music landscape. 

This second concert features Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw as guest vocalist, in the West Coast premiere of a luminous new set of 10 songs Shaw co-composed with the members of the quartet. Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, an exploration of soil cultivation as a metaphor for creativity and collaboration, exploits Shaw’s remarkable ear for melody and harmony and Sō’s playful sense of rhythmic invention. The artists draw inspiration from James Joyce, ABBA, American roots music, plainchant, Christian hymns, and stories from the Old Testament. “Whether inverting an old song or sculpting a whirlwind from dust, Shaw’s work highlights the divine in the ordinary” (Pitchfork).

Sō Percussion with Caroline Shaw, voice

University of California, Berkeley

The adventurous percussion group Sō Percussion is joined by groundbreaking beatboxer Dominic “Shodekeh” Talifero. The contemporary music program will include a diverse range of repertoire from contemporary “classics” to new works in an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (The New Yorker). 

Sō Percussion and Shodekeh

Somerville Theatre

Interdisciplinary tap dance artist Michael J. Love works with Princeton University faculty composers Jason Treuting and Dan Trueman, and graduate student composers Ellie Cherry, Kennedy Taylor Dixon, Hope Littwin, and James Moore to create an innovative program featuring brand new compositions.

Princeton Sound Kitchen: Michael J. Love

Taplin Auditorium

Sō Percussion, Princeton’s Edward T. Cone Performers-in-Residence, invites student musicians to participate in two large works by Julius Eastman: Stay on It and Gay Guerrilla. These sprawling and electrifying works of 1970s minimalism involve groove, improvisation, and creative decision making.

The Music of Julius Eastman with Sō Percussion

Richardson Auditorium

The singular new-music ensemble Sō Percussion, celebrated for its “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (New Yorker), plays two concerts highlighting three millennial voices who are part of an inspiring generation of women composers currently revitalizing the contemporary music landscape. In the quartet’s first visit, two short pieces by Puerto Rican-born composer Angélica Negrón explore interactions between the quartet’s percussion instruments and pre-programmed electronic noisemakers, and Nathalie Joachim’s Note to Self combines pre-recorded loops of her own voice with virtuosic percussion writing as a way of processing her chronic anxiety.

Works by Angélica Negrón, Kendall Williams, Jason Treuting, and a World Premiere by Robyn Cee Kay Jacobs.

Sō Percussion

Jun 19, 2026

Sō Percussion performs Steve Reich

Jun 18, 2026

Sō Percussion with Becca Stevens

Sō Percussion