Percussion

Kodo, Antonio Sánchez: Birdman LIVE, Twyla Tharp Dance featuring Third Coast Percussion, and Zakir Hussain and Masters of Percussion

Antonio Sánchez
Birdman LIVE

The Academy Award-winning Best Picture,
Birdman, screened to a live soundtrack

Sat, Jan 18, 8pm, Zellerbach Hall

Anyone who saw Alejandro Iñárritu’s film Birdman when it was released in 2014 can recall the moment when they realized—wow, this is not your usual Hollywood film soundtrack! Antonio Sánchez’ drumming exploded off the screen, a companion, counterweight, and commentary on the psychological turmoil of Michael Keaton’s character. Sánchez’ largely improvised solo drum set score won a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack (and a BAFTA, and a Critic’s Choice Award), and the film took home the gold, winning the Oscar for Best Picture. In this special screening and concert, Sánchez celebrates the film’s 10th anniversary with a riveting live performance. "There’s no one better to inject the volatile tempos of New York City than jazz drummer Antonio Sánchez…[he adds] a vitality that maps out the emotions of the film’s characters with precision and almost no sentimentality" (The Guardian).

KODO

One Earth Tour 2025: Warabe

Sat, Jan 25, 8pm
Sun, Jan 26, 3pm, Zellerbach Hall

In its latest creation, Warabe, famed taiko troupe Kodo explores the most basic and authentic of musical impulses, the “desire to play the drums with the simple heart of a child.” The living bearers of a centuries-old Japanese folk tradition, the ensemble’s athletic drummers create a universe of sound and emotion through thunderous percussion and polished theatricality. “Their sound stretches from the lightest of rainfall to cataclysmic thunderclaps” (The Guardian).

Twyla Tharp Dance

Diamond Jubilee
Featuring Third Coast Percussion

Fri–Sat, Feb 7–8, 8pm
Sun, Feb 9, 3pm, Zellerbach Hall

A titan of American dance, Twyla Tharp celebrates 60 years crafting strikingly original, thoroughly accessible, and utterly uncategorizable works with a new collaboration with Philip Glass, the artists’ first partnership in nearly 40 years. Performed live by Chicago’s Grammy-winning Third Coast Percussion ensemble, the score is based on Glass’ 1993–99 work Aguas da Amazonia and reflects on the crisis of climate change. Tharp also revives Diabelli, her 1998 triumph that challenges 11 dancers and a pianist to embody Beethoven’s endlessly inventive Diabelli Variations.

Patron Sponsors: Toni Ratner Miller and Joyce Ratner (2/7), Rockridge Market Hall (2/8)

Zakir Hussain and Masters of Percussion

Fri, Mar 21, 8pm, Zellerbach Hall

Google Zakir Hussain’s name and a Who’s Who of the music world populates your screen: Edgar Meyer, Béla Fleck, Herbie Hancock, George Harrison, Van Morrison, Earth, Wind & Fire, John McLaughlin, Mickey Hart, Kronos Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma…and the list goes on and on. A wildly prolific collaborator, the tabla virtuoso has brought the ecstatic rhythms of Indian classical music to the farthest corners of the globe, masterfully connecting his own musical traditions to a breathtaking array of pop, rock, and folk genres. This latest edition of his popular Masters of Percussion program invites a dynamic cast of virtuoso performers to the Zellerbach Hall stage.

Did you see the film Birdman?

Yes, I saw it when it first came out
No, I haven't seen it
No, but I plan on seeing it before the Antonio Sánchez performance of it live
Yes, and I plan on seeing it again before the Antonio Sánchez performance of it live

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