Midwest Chamber Percussion Camp at GC
Midwest Chamber Percussion Camp at GC featuring Escape Ten, Frozen Earth Duo, and pax duo.
July 1-7, 2024
Please join us for the second edition of the Midwest Chamber Percussion Camp.
Faculty for this year’s camp are Escape Ten (Dr. Annie Stevens and Dr. Andrea Venet), Frozen Earth Duo (Dr. Brant Blackard and Dr. Conor Stevens), and pax duo (Micah Detweiler and Tristan Swihart). Students attending the camp will have the opportunity to play in ensembles, receive coaching, take lessons, learn in masterclasses, and perform alongside our fantastic instructors while also creating new friendships and a sense of belonging in a larger musical community.
Tuition (includes room and board)- $1,200
Early Bird Pricing (closes March 31st)- $1,000
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until June 1st. Please apply early if you are able, early bird pricing ends March 31st. Once the camp is full, applications will be put on a wait list in the event of a cancellation.
There are generous scholarships available on both a merit and need basis. Those interested in scholarship opportunities are required to submit at least three recent videos of their playing, at least two must be solo playing. Please try to showcase a variety of skills and music.
A huge thank you to our camp sponsors!
Biographies
Escape Ten:
Escape Ten is a percussion duo formed in 2012 by Dr. Annie Stevens (Associate Professor, Virginia Tech) and Dr. Andrea Venet (Associate Professor, University of North Florida). Ardent about exploring all genres and expressing these creatively through the world of percussion, much of their repertoire includes innovative arrangements and compositions commissioned exclusively by the duo. The duo has performed and lectured at over 35 universities, at five international conferences, and was featured on NPR’s “Performance Today.”
Most recently having been invited as guest artists to the Prairie Music Residency in Saskatoon, Canada, and Montreal for the Day of Percussion, they maintain a steady performance schedule touring nationally and internationally, consistently featured as chamber artists and clinicians at music festivals, concert series, conferences, and universities. Select appearances include the U.S. premiere of John Psathas’ double concerto for percussion and orchestra with the Roanoke Symphony in 2022, as well as performances at the Ágora Actual Percussion and WASBE 2019 festivals (Spain), the Academy of the Performing Arts (UTT) in Trinidad, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Eastman Summer Percussion Festival, and at the Leigh Howard Stevens Marimba Seminar. Through a collaboration with composer Eric Guinivan, they are the recipients of a marimba duo commission awarded from the prestigious Fromm Foundation entitled Illuminations (2018).
Alongside signature mallets through Malletech, they have their own publication series of works written for the duo through KPP. Escape Ten has released two albums: Our Favorite Things (Ravello 2020) and Colours of a Groove (2014). Their inaugural performance endeavor was a three-week cross-country tour where they drove from Virginia to LA performing in 10 cities across the country. Their name ‘Escape Ten’ originates from their trademark roadtrip style performance tours in a Ford Escape, with many miles traveled on the I-10. Escape Ten proudly endorses Malletech, DREAM Cymbals, Black Swamp Percussion, and Remo drumheads.
Follow at:
www.escapeten.com
FB: @Escape X
Instagram: @EscapeTen
Frozen Earth Duo
Frozen Earth Duo was formed by Brant Blackard and Connor Stevens while both were students at the Eastman School of Music. Brant and Connor are focused on performing contemporary music within the percussion duo repertoire, as well as presenting their own arrangements of classic repertoire. Frozen Earth Duo has performed at the Eastman School of Music, the George Eastman House, the 2015 Great Plains International Marimba Competition, the 2015 Valencia International Performance Academy & Festival in Spain, and the 2016 McCormick Marimba Festival.
Brant and Connor have been actively touring schools and universities with concerts, masterclasses and clinics. Their various clinics have been on performing chamber music, performing transcriptions and arrangements, and how performers can arrange music for themselves. Recently, Frozen Earth Duo has performed and presented at Florida State University, the University of South Alabama, the University of Central Arkansas, the University of South Carolina, Virginia Tech University, the Atlanta Percussion Symposium, and several other universities.
The duo also has performed regularly as part of the Eastman Broadband Ensemble. They have performed with Broadband at the soundSCAPE festival in Maccagno, Italy as well as the Valencia International Performance Academy & Festival. In 2016 they joined Broadband for a collaborative opera performance of music, dance, puppetry, and theater which premiered in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Brant Blackard and Connor Stevens are Malletech performing artists and endorsers.
pax duo
pax duo is a dynamic new percussion project created by Tristan Swihart and Micah Detweiler. Based in Goshen, IN and Madison, WI. pax duo aims to break preconceptions of contemporary percussion through collaboration and new creation of genre bending works.
Tristan and Micah first met in the fall of 2012 when Micah began working with the Northridge Raider Marching Band in Middlebury, IN where Tristan was a student. The marching band show that year was entitled Et in Terra Pax. Since then they have gone from student and teacher to close friends and colleagues.
pax duo are Malletech performing artists and are proud to endorse their products.
