Joseph Van Hassel: Music for Solo Snare Drum
Program:
Dan VanHassel – fzzl
Roger Braun – Bobcat
Allen Otte – What the Snare Drum Tells Me
Allen Otte – Grand and Heroic Symphony on the Birth, Life, Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Stuart Saunders Smith – The Noble Snare
Herbert Brün – Just Seven for Drum
David Macbride – TBD (world premiere)
Janis Mercer – TBD (world premiere)
Description:
Solo percussionist Joseph Van Hassel presents a concert of new music for solo snare drum, including the world premiere of works by Berkeley-born composer David Macbride and San Francisco native Janis Mercer. Also included are works by Oakland resident Dan VanHassel and founding member of Percussion Group Cincinnati, Allen Otte. The program includes multiple styles of performance (fixed and interactive electronics among them) that show just how versatile this “simple” instrument truly is.
Bio:
Named an “emerging artist” of 2013 by the international Percussive Arts Society, Joseph Van Hassel is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting young percussion performers and educators in the field. Performance highlights include Carnegie Hall, the Cincinnati MusicNow Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the International Tuba Euphonium Conference, Electronic Music Midwest, and the Hindemith Center in Switzerland. He has performed solo recitals, lectures, and master classes at colleges, conferences, and high schools throughout the country, and performed with numerous orchestras and big bands throughout the Midwest and East coast. A versatile artist in many genres, Joseph has performed or recorded with the Percussion Group Cincinnati, Roland Vazquez, Bernard Woma, and the Ethos Percussion Group. He has worked with composers Steve Reich, Joseph Schwantner, William Bolcom, Erik Griswold, David Gillingham, Jennifer Higdon, John Corigliano, Matthew Burtner, Jere Hutcheson, and Libby Larsen. Active in the performance of new repertoire, Joseph has commissioned and premiered works by Stuart Saunders Smith, Dary John Mizelle, David Macbride, Jenny Bernard Merkowitz, Dan VanHassel, and Michael Barnhart. Joseph can be heard on recordings for the Mode, Innova, and Equilibrium record labels, and has had articles published in Percussive Notes. He is currently at work on a solo CD of works that he commissioned.
Joseph earned degrees from Ohio University, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Hartt School, and is on the percussion faculty at Ohio University and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. He endorses Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets. For more information please visit his website: josephvanhassel.com.
