Andy has been invited to Furman University in Greenville, SC to take-part in a campus-wide celebration of scholarly activity entitled “Furman Engaged!,” where he will cooperate with the Furman Percussion Ensemble on the United States premiere of John Luther Adams’ Inuksuit.. The work, scored for 9 to 99 percussionists, was premiered at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada which Bliss participated in during the summer of 2009.

John Luther Adams, said to be “one of the most original musical thinkers of the new century” by Alex Ross of The New Yorker, resides outside Fairbanks, Alaska and has been creating a massive collection of works that draws its inspiration from the natural world that surrounds him. Adams writes, “Inuksuit is inspired by the stone sentinels constructed over centuries by the Inuit in the windswept expanses of the Arctic. The word ‘Inuksuit’ translates literally ‘to act in the capacity of the human’...it is a concert-length work for percussion in which the performers are widely dispersed and move throughout a large, open area. The listeners, too, may move around freely and discover their own individual listening points. This work is intended to expand our awareness of the never-ending music of the world in which we live, transforming seemingly empty space into a more fully experienced place.”

The United States premiere performance will take place at Furman University on April 16th where Bliss will be collaborating with both Luther Adams, as well as renowned solo percussionist Steven Schick. The performance will be preceded by a special pre-concert discussion with the composer, followed by the outdoor performance on the university’s campus. The summer premiere at the Banff Centre was covered by The New Yorker and a video portrait of the project, can be viewed at <www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/09/video-john-luther-adams-inuksuit.html> and the recent mention in the New Yorker can be viewed here.

For more information about the performance in Greenville, please see the link below!

Inuksuit at Furman University