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Gene Koshinski and Benjamin Toth - Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The Department of Music presents percussionists Gene Koshinski and Benjamin Toth in concert. The program will feature music inspired by other musical cultures, including Africa, Cuba, Haiti, Japan and Indonesia.

8 pm, Fine Arts Studio 508 (Fifth Floor). Admission is free.

Benjamin Toth, professor of percussion at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, has presented concerts, radio and television broadcasts, master classes, and children's programs throughout Europe and the United States, as well as in Brazil, Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan, and Trinidad. His performances have been described as "tour de force" (Gramophone), "riveting" (The New York Times), "absolutely precise" (Marburger Neue Zeitung), "hugely virtuosic" (BBC Magazine), "awe-inspiring" (Saginaw News), and "breathtaking" (Cleveland Plain Dealer). Toth's varied musical interests are reflected in his performance credits, highlights of which include: Percussion Group Cincinnati, Nebojsa Zivkovic's Jovan Percussion Projekt, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Goodspeed Opera House, Hartford Stage, Bushnell Theater, and the Jimmy Dorsey Band. His performance venues, spanning five continents, have included Ravinia, the Walker Arts Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Dagbe Arts Centre (Ghana), the Encontro Internacional de Percussao (Brazil), International Percussion Workshop (Poland), Festival Bicich Nastroju (Czech Republic), June in Buffalo festival (with Steve Reich), Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (Germany), Glasbeni Maj v Pomurju festival (Slovenia), Nomus Music Festivities (Serbia), the Lithuanian National Philharmonic concert series, the College Band Directors National Association national convention, Percussive Arts Society International Conventions (eleven appearances, including collaborations with Herbert Brun and John Cage), and the 2000 Panorama (Trinidad National Steel Band Competition). He has recorded for the Albany, Arabesque, Bis, Centaur, Equilibrium, GIA, Hartt, Innova, Musica Europea, Naxos, TNC and Yesa labels, having appeared on twenty recordings. He is sponsored by Yamaha, Zildjian, and Innovative Percussion.

Percussionist and composer Dr. Gene Koshinski, Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Minnesota Duluth, has delighted audiences worldwide with his dynamic performances and creative programming. In demand as a solo and chamber musician, he has performed in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Jordan, Slovenia, Canada, and throughout the United States. In 2002, Koshinski won the National MTNA Percussion Competition in Cincinnati, and in 2004, finished 3rd in the prestigious Universal Marimba Duo Competition in Sint-Truiden, Belgium. As a composer, Koshinski was named this year's recipient of The ASCAP Foundation Nissim Prize for his work Concerto for Marimba and Choir. Koshinski has worked with many notable performing organizations and artists including NFL Films, Late Show with David Letterman, Mary Wilson (the Supremes), David Samuels, Wycliffe Gordon, Philadelphia Boys Choir, The Lettermen, Hartford Symphony, Minnesota Ballet, and is currently section percussionist for the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and a member of Nebojsa Zivkovic's Jovan Perkussion Projekt. Performances have also been heard on the CBS, PBS, and EPSN television networks as well as NPR. For his work with NFL Films, he can be heard on the Emmy award-winning soundtrack A Century of NFL. In addition, he has recorded for the Naxos, Innova, MSR Classics, and Equilibrium record labels. His method book, solo albums, and over 20 published compositions are distributed internationally, with many of his compositions receiving frequent global performances. He is sponsored by Korogi, Innovative Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, and Remo.