Kick off the Thanksgiving season and join The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Percussion Ensemble to “Beat Hunger,” a crowd-pleasing performance offered two nights, Sunday, November 22 and Monday, November 23. Under the direction of Dr. Monte Coulter, both performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Roland Hayes Concert Hall in the UTC Fine Arts Center, corner of Vine and Palmetto Streets.
All proceeds go directly to the Chattanooga Community Kitchen. Suggested donation is two cans of food or a check for the Chattanooga Community Kitchen. Charlie Hughes, Executive Director of Chattanooga Community Kitchen, estimates that in one night, “Beat Hunger” has collected 1,500 pounds of food.
The UTC Percussion Ensemble has performed to “Beat Hunger” for a decade, and the student musicians always play at least one unusual piece.
“We will play a piece that is performed only on drum heads, not drums. It’s a fantastic piece by Mark Ford, the director of percussion studies at the University of North Texas,” said Coulter, director of percussion studies at UTC. “Also, a real treat this year will be a new piece for Percussion Ensemble and Saxophone by David Gillingham, with guest artist Clint Schmitt. Clint is a fabulous local saxophonist and UTC faculty member, who is well known to Chattanooga musicians and audiences. We are very excited to perform with him.”
Coulter said there will be additional works the audience will enjoy.
“There are 13 talented percussionists in this ensemble, and the group has more depth than I have ever seen at the college level,” Coulter said. “Feel welcome to bring children, and all persons interested in drumming or percussion. I look forward to seeing you there!”
