Bringing the beat

The latest installment of University of Idaho’s Auditorium Chamber Music Series has got the beat.

It’s been about 15 years since the series featured a percussion group, manager Navin Chettri said, but that dry spell ends at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday when Brooklyn-based Sandbox Percussion comes to the Moscow campus.

Chettri, himself a percussionist, said the concert brings something unexpected to the classical music program.

“When people think about chamber music, the first thing that crosses people’s mind is a string quartet or saxophone quartet or piano trio,” he said. “But there’s some really cool, awesome percussion chamber music.”

The performance will include selections from a variety of modern composers, Chettri said, employing instruments from bells to marimbas to bass drums to bongos to congas.

He described the ensemble’s members — Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum and Terry Sweeney — as “top-notch” percussionists. The group’s 2021 album “Seven Pillars” was nominated for two Grammy awards.

Sandbox offers audience members a chance to “explore the variety of sounds that can be created in a musical setting,” Chettri said.

“We have a whole process of scouting for artists for each season,” he explained. “What could we do that could be something different, exciting and cater to the variety we have in the audience?”

— Mary Stone, Inland 360 editor

IF YOU GO

Sandbox Percussion

When: 7:30 p.m. next Thursday.

Where: Administration Auditorium, University of Idaho, 851 Campus Drive, Moscow.

Tickets: $25 general admission, $20 for seniors, free for 12 and younger with purchase of adult ticket at uitickets.com.

Details: University of Idaho’s Auditorium Chamber Music series welcomes a percussion ensemble for the first time in many years.