Sō is: Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting
For 25 years and counting, Grammy-winning percussion quartet Sō Percussion has redefined chamber music for the 21st century through an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (The New Yorker). They are celebrated by audiences and presenters for a dazzling range of work: for live performances in which “telepathic powers of communication” (The New York Times) bring to life the vibrant percussion repertoire; for an extravagant array of collaborations in classical music, pop, indie rock, contemporary dance, and theater; and for their work in education and community-building, seeking to explore the immense possibility of art in our time.
To celebrate its 25th anniversary season, Sō Percussion releases 25×25 on Cantaloupe Music in September 2025, an 8-disc box set featuring 500 minutes of entirely new and previously-unreleased recordings of 21st century music, each piece written for, in collaboration with, and premiered by Sō Percussion. 25×25 includes works by Bora Yoon, Kendall K. Williams, Vân-Ánh Võ, Dan Trueman, Jason Treuting, Olivier Tarpaga, Shodekeh Talifero, Caroline Shaw. Juri Seo, claire rousay, Tristan Perich, Angélica Negrón, Andrea Mazzariello, Steven Mackey, Michael J. Love, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Nathalie Joachim, Robyn Jacob, Vijay Iyer, Suzanne Farrin, Cenk Ergün, Donnacha Dennehy, Dan Deacon, Eric Cha-Beach – and Sō Percussion as a writing group!
Recent highlights include a headlining series of concerts and collaborations at Bang on a Can’s LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA, leading a festival-opening of Steve Reich’s Drumming with the composer in the audience; a two-week residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in two programs, including collaborations with Helado Negro and Kate Stables (This is the Kit) and with Caroline Shaw featuring Ringdown performing a program highlighting their GRAMMY-winning Nonesuch album, Rectangles and Circumstance (Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance, 2025). Sō has performed concerts at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Big Ears, Cal Performances, the BOZAR in Brussels, 92NY, at the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Penn Live Arts in Philadelphia, the Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa, the Library of Congress; toured Benin and Burkina Faso with Olivier Tarpaga – and elsewhere.
Along with 25×25, Sō has a catalog of more than thirty albums featuring landmark recordings of works by David Lang, Steve Reich, Julia Wolfe, Caroline Shaw, Steven Mackey, Bobby Previte, Matmos, and many others.
Rooted in the belief that music is an elemental form of human communication, and galvanized by forces for social change, Sō enthusiastically pursues a range of social and community outreach through their nonprofit umbrella, including an ongoing partnership with Pan in Motion; the Sō Laboratories concert series; a studio residency program in Brooklyn; and the Sō Percussion Summer Institute, an intensive two-week chamber music seminar for percussionists and composers they have led annually since 2009. The members of Sō Percussion are the Edward T. Cone Performers-in-Residence at Princeton University – a role they’ve held for more than a decade.
Sō Percussion is Jason Treuting, Adam Sliwinski, Josh Quillen, and Eric Cha-Beach.
