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Sandbox Percussion (Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum, and Terry Sweeney) is a quartet that shares meaningful musical experiences with communities worldwide through performance, collaboration, and education.Program--
David Crowell: Point Reyes
Chris Cerrone: Ode To Joy
Andy Akiho: Portal
Julius Eastman: Joy Boy
Gabriella Smith: FIVE
Viet Cuong: Next Week’s Trees
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About the Quartet
The “exhilarating” (The New York Times) and “utterly mesmerizing” (The Guardian) GRAMMY®-nominated Sandbox Percussion champions living composers through its unwavering dedication to contemporary chamber music. In 2011, Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum, and Terry Sweeney were brought together by their interest in expanding the percussion repertoire. Today, they are established leaders in contemporary music for percussion, engaging a wider audience for classical music through collaborations with leading composers and artists.
In 2025, Sandbox Percussion made its debut on NPR’s Tiny Desk with a genre-defying program of pieces by Andy Akiho and Viet Cuong; and, in 2024, they recorded percussion for the feature film The Wild Robot (DreamWorks). Sandbox Percussion is the first percussion ensemble to receive the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant; at the 2024 ceremony, they performed “Pillar V,” from Seven Pillars, Akiho’s 2021 suite for percussion quartet, which The New York Times called “as pure as music gets.” It was nominated for two GRAMMY® awards and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Over the season, Sandbox Percussion performs Simeon ten Holt’s minimalist work Canto Ostinato. The group’s arrangement for percussion quartet and two pianos was performed at Lincoln Center Summer for the City. A new recording by Sandbox Percussion, Erik Hall, and Metropolis Ensemble is scheduled for release in spring 2026 on the Western Vinyl label. At Duke University, Sandbox Percussion and the Tyshawn Sorey Trio present Max Roach at 100, a tribute to the influential jazz drummer. At Stanford Live, Sandbox Percussion joins the choir The Crossing for You Are Who I Love, the last work by the late Harold Meltzer, set to Aracelis Girmay’s poem about the undocumented immigrant experience in the U.S.
The group’s latest album is Don’t Look Down (PENTATONE, 2025), featuring music by Christopher Cerrone. Other recent releases include BLOOM, with music by Michael Torke (Ecstatic Records, 2024); and Past Life / Lifeline, with music by Ellis Ludwig-Leone (Better Company Records, 2024).
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
120 College Street, Asheville, NC, United States, North Carolina 28801
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