Percussion Ensemble in Concert Nov. 19

The Furman Percussion Ensemble will present a concert Saturday, Nov. 19, at 8 p.m. in Daniel Recital Hall on the Furman University campus.

Directed by Furman music professor Dr. Omar Carmenates, the concert is open to the public. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 for adults and $3 for students.

For the program, the Furman Percussion Ensemble will perform repertoire they will take on tour to a prestigious invitation-only music festival, the McCormick Marimba Festival, which takes place at the University of South Florida (Tampa) in early 2017.

With Furman professor of Theory and Music Technology Dan Koppleman, the ensemble will give the world premiere performance of Carmenates’ arrangement of “Piano Quintet” by internationally-renowned composer John Psathas. The arrangement is the result of a larger collaboration between Psathas and Carmenates entitled, The John Psathas Percussion Project.

Carmenates is Associate Professor of Percussion at Furman where he oversees all aspects of the percussion program including classical, jazz, and world percussion studies. He is active in all aspects of the pageantry arts including having served as the Percussion Caption and/or Arranger for the Boston Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps (2008-2010) and the Spirit of Atlanta Drum & Bugle Corps (2013-14).

Carmenates has served as percussion arranger for high school programs across the United States including the Tarpon Springs Outdoor Performance Ensemble (Tarpon Springs, Fla.), Newsome High School (Lithia, Fla.), and Foothill High School (Henderson, Nev.). As a pedagogue, he has taught and given clinics across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and also serves as a percussion judge for Winter Guard International.

Carmenates is also a versatile performer with a strong interest in contemporary solo and chamber music. His debut solo CD, The Gaia Theory, is released through Rattle Records and features premiere recordings of works by Scott Lindroth, John Psathas, Christopher Adler, David Skidmore, Christopher Deane, and Brian Nozny. Carmenates can also be heard on the Cantaloupe Records release of John Luther Adams’ Inuksuit for 9-99 percussionists, a work that he both co- commissioned and directed in its United States premiere.

Recent works include The John Psathas Percussion Project, as well as a collaboration with Furman University’s David E. Shi Center for Sustainability to record Matthew Burtner’s Six Ecoacoustic Quintets with the Furman Percussion Ensemble.

He holds a doctorate degree from Florida State University, a master’s in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas, and a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Central Florida.

For more information about the event, contact the Furman University Music Department at (864) 294-2086, or email the department at FurmanMusic@furman.edu.