Program Notes

Fandango 13, for Six Percussionists

MICHAEL BURRITT
BORN: 1962

COMPOSED: 2013

WORLD PREMIERE: At the 2013 Percussive Arts Society International Convention, by the Eastman Percussion Ensemble. The work is “dedicated to those players who brought it to life so brilliantly, Brant Blackard, Chris Jones, Sarah Gartin, Connor Stevens, Sam Um, and Andrea Venet"

INSTRUMENTATION: 6 percussionists playing the following combinations of instruments: Player 1— marimba, bell tree, medium suspended cymbal, 2 medium tom-toms; Player 2—marimba, bongos, xylophone; Player 3—marimba, darabuka; Player 4—bass marimba, 2 large tom-toms, crotales; Player 5—vibraphone, bass drum; Player 6—vibraphone, djembe

DURATION: About 6 mins

Michael Burritt is a percussionist and composer whose works include two concertos, numerous solo and chamber works for marimba and percussion, and two books of etudes. He has been commissioned by the World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart, Germany, the Paris International Marimba Competition, Third Coast Percussion Quartet, Exit 9 Percussion, Louisiana State University, the Northshore Concert Band, and the Tempus Fugit Percussion Ensemble.

Burritt is currently head of the percussion department at his alma mater, the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. Prior to his appointment at Eastman he was professor of percussion at Northwestern University. His teachers have included John Beck, Gordon Stout, Paul Yancich, and Herbert Flower.

Burritt’s three solo recordings—Perpetual, Shadow Chasers, and the recently-released Waking Dreams, on the Resonator Records label—are comprised of Burritt's original compositions as well as works written expressly for him. His works are published by Ludwig Music, C. Allen, and Keyboard Percussion Publications.

The composer offers these comments on Fandango 13:
The percussion sextet Fandango 13 is a reworking of an earlier piece for keyboard percussion quartet from a larger work commissioned by the West Point Academy titled Four Points West. I had thought for some time that expanding the instrumentation to include several additional keyboards, hand drums, and tom-toms would make for a more dynamic piece and could stand alone outside the context of its original place within a three-movement work.

—Michael Burritt

(February 2018)