sa国际传媒官网网页入口

Acclaimed composer and vocalist Caroline Shaw and the S艒 Percussion ensemble won a 2025 Grammy Award for 鈥淩ectangles and Circumstance,鈥� a genre-defying album that blended classical, pop and experimental electronic music. On Sunday, June 21, they will perform together at sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Academy鈥檚 Simms Center in a new multimedia theatrical experience, 鈥淲ho Turns Out the Light.鈥�

鈥淲e come out of a tradition where we play not only the orchestral instruments or rock instruments people are used to seeing, but we do something that鈥檚 called 鈥榝ound sounds,鈥� which is where you take ordinary objects and make them musical,鈥� Adam Sliwinski, S艒 Percussion鈥檚 co-artistic director, said.

Along with drums and marimbas, S艒鈥檚 instruments include flower pots and metal pipes.

鈥淲ith flower pots, you just tap on them, like anybody could do. But we select flower pots that have just the right pitch and tones for the piece,鈥� Sliwinski said. 鈥淲e have a piece in the middle of the show for tuned metal pipes that Eric Cha-Beach from our group wrote, and those are just normal pipes that we get at Home Depot, but we tune them to the right size, so that they have the pitches we want, and then we play rhythms on them. 鈥� It鈥檚 similar to 鈥楽tomp鈥� (the Broadway show), except we don鈥檛 do backflips.鈥�

They may not do backflips, but, like 鈥淪tomp,鈥� 鈥淲ho Turns Out the Light鈥� incorporates choreographed movement and lighting. Director Mark DeChiazza said he wanted to achieve 鈥渕agical鈥� effects using lo-fi, hands-on techniques suited to the group鈥檚 do-it-yourself aesthetic.

鈥淭he whole machinery of the set and the lighting is managed and operated by the group,鈥� DeChiazza said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 wonderful is that the transformation of the visual world of the set, in terms of how it gets transformed through lighting, moving lights, switching lights on and off 鈥� is not something that happens externally, that鈥檚 put on them. 鈥� They鈥檙e actively making, remaking and changing their space 鈥� and part of the charm of the show is watching them do that.鈥�

Sliwinski and DeChiazza said they took inspiration from the rock band Talking Heads鈥� 1983 鈥淪peaking in Tongues鈥� tour 鈥� as immortalized in the Jonathan Demme concert film, 鈥淪top Making Sense鈥� 鈥� where lights and projectors functioned as instruments in their own right.

The original members of S艒 Percussion met at Yale University in 1999 while studying under Robert van Sice, an acclaimed marimba player. In the early 2000s, the ensemble performed frequently in New York City 鈥� both at contemporary classical venues and at places like Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, home to a thriving indie rock and performance art scene.

鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 even quantify the effect that being in Brooklyn for those years had on the work that we鈥檙e doing now,鈥� Sliwinski said.

By embracing art rock theatrics, the classically-trained percussionists found they could achieve crossover appeal, and they continue to attract an audience with diverse musical tastes. Sliwinski said 鈥淲ho Turns Out the Light鈥� will feel more like a rock concert than a traditional classical music performance.

鈥淔irst and foremost, (the audience) is going to hear songs,鈥� Sliwinski said. 鈥溾�� One of our tunes is a cover of an ABBA song called 鈥楲ay All Your Love on Me,鈥� which is a very recognizable song for a lot of people. Caroline sings the chorus, and the four of us stand around a marimba, playing this chorale that builds over the course of the song. 鈥� The piece sounds a bit like a medieval version of an ABBA song. So, we鈥檙e very eclectic in that way. We like to take things that are familiar and do things to them.鈥�

Sliwinski said S艒 Percussion has been working with Shaw for over a decade.

鈥淐aroline was a Ph.D. student at Princeton in the years just before she won the Pulitzer Prize for 鈥楶artita,鈥欌�� Sliwinski said. 鈥淪he actually took our class on writing for percussion 鈥� the first one we ever taught at Princeton.鈥�

Shaw was 30 when she won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 鈥� the youngest person to ever win in that category.

鈥淲ho Turns Out the Light鈥� will also feature performances by Ringdown, Shaw鈥檚 electro-pop duo with multi-instrumentalist Danni Lee Parpan.

鈥淚t really makes for a very eclectic evening,鈥� Sliwinski said.

The concert is presented by Chamber Music sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and marks the finale of the organization鈥檚 2025-2026 season.

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the sa国际传媒官网网页入口. He covers visual art, music, fashion, theater and more. Reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com or on Instagram at .