
Sick Puppy Percussionists from left: John Andress, Gary Donald, Stephen Drury, Scott Deal, Stuart Gerber, Cory Bracken, Dave Tarantino, Jeff Kolega, Sayun Chang, Ryan Packard, Christian Smith. Not pictured: Jeffrey Means.
The New England Conservatory Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice, affectionately known to its participants as “Sick Puppy” was held at New England Conservatory in Boston June 18-25. SICPP is an 8-day immersion into new and experimental music for advanced and professional musicians. SICPP began in the 1990’s when Artistic Director Stephen Drury, himself a concert pianist who specializes in new music, decided to create a contemporary music performance seminar for his advanced students. In the 2000’s Drury, gradually began to add composers, percussionists, vocalists and instrumentalists. It has now grown to include an Ensemble Program, an Electronic Music Workshop, and the New Works Program, which is a workshop where composers have the opportunity to study with the Composer-in-Residence (this year, the French composer Tristan Murial). » Read the rest of this entry «