ABOUT THE ARTIST
Vladimir Puskovitch is a freelance percussionist and music educator based out of the suburban Philadelphia area. He is the Graduate Assistant for the West Chester University percussion department, where he is pursuing a M.M. in percussion performance. Puskovitch is also a founding member of The Percussion Conservatory, a virtual platform dedicated to providing world-class percussion education to musicians all around the world. Through the PC, Puskovitch has had the opportunity to play for Shannon Wood, Becca Laurito, Ivan Trevino, Joseph Gramley, Joshua Vonderheide, and Stephen Kehner. His primary teachers have been Andre Sonner and Dr. Ralph Sorrentino.
Puskovitch began performing professional while in his undergraduatestudies, playing with the St. Louis Brass Band. With this group, he travelled to the North American Brass Band Association (NABBA) Champsionships, in Huntsville Alabama, where they received the highest placement in the group’s history. He also played within the percussion section of the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra, the nation’ s second longest continuously performing ensemble (second to the NY Phil), for one year before assuming the position of principal timpanist for another. Since then, he has premiered multiple works with Sandbox Percussion, grammy-nominated percussion quartet, and has developed a passion for playing new music by living composers. He plans to premier multiple works for solo percussion in 2026, and has numerous commissions going already.
At West Chester University, Puskovitch has had the opportunity to play and learn from world-renowned percussionists: Dr. Douglass Walter, Heather Thorn, Nancy Zeltsman, and most recently accompanied the Quey Percussion Duo in their own “Circuit Breaker.” He is also the director of the Concert Percussion Ensemble at West Chester University, a group made up of both music and non-music majors, in which he hopes to inspire creative thinking and curiosity amongst collegiate musicians.
PROGRAM NOTES
JOSE/BEFORE JOHN5 (2000)
This piece is Holló’s solution to presenting the fundamental Spanish style music (with some Arabic and Gypsy influences) of Renaud Garcia-Fons, as heard in his recording of Oriental Bass, in a percussion composition. Marimba has the lead in this short character piece almost exclusively: two players standing face to face play especially virtuoso complementary motives. Most of these figures are based on the traditional xylophone music of Africa. The players use techniques of amadinda and akadinda (traditional percussion instruments from Uganda) yet the tonality is more flamenco-like. In the end these two players move to a real guitar, with the same technique. The sound of the marimba is supported by the playing of two other musicians, each with a diverse array of percussive sounds that elevate the groove.
NIMROD/KIMBOB (2006)
The title of this piece is taken from one of the movements of Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations.” The percussionist plays on a number of differently sized drums, ranging from the 32” concert bass drum to the 6” high bongo, along with woodblocks and cymbals, which along with the different striking implements creates a diverse array of sonic possibilities. The flute writing requires confidence and agility to ease the listener between the different lyrical and disjunct melodic lines. NIMROD was written for Kim and Robert McCormick (the McCormick Duo) and was premiered on September 13th , 2004, at the University of South Florida.
TAXIDERMY (2012)
“Why ‘Taxidermy’? I just find the word strangely compelling, and it evokes something grand, awkward, epic, silent, funny, and just a bit creepy all characteristics of this piece, in a way. The repeated phrase toward the end (“the detail of the pattern is movement”) is a little concept I love trying (and failing) to imagine. It comes from T.S. Eliot’ s beautiful and perplexing Burnt Norton (from the Four Quartets), and I’ ve used it before in other work as a kind of whimsical existentialist mantra.” – Caroline Shaw
VARIED TRIO (1986-1987)
Harrison often used instrumentation and musical form to evoke a sense of time and place in his compositions. The first movement of Varied Trio is inspired by Indonesian Gamelan music. The title, “Gending” refers to the phrase structure of gamelan music, in which large gongs mark groupings of beats organized into cycles. Chinese rice bowls move the second movement, “Bow Bells”, to a different Asian location.“ Elegy”, the third movement, does not seem to have a location, but was described by Harrison as an “expressive rhapsody,” primarily for violin and piano, but also with the distinctive sound of the sustained vibraphone. The fifth and final “Dance”, combines sounds and ideas from different places, introducing tom-toms, tambourines, and baking pans, in an energized jaunt to the end of the piece. It was first performed as a quintet with the composer (playing harp) and William Colvig (playing a special selection of baking pans) joining the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio on February 28, 1987. The published score is an arrangement by Julie Steinberg, in which the original keyboard part for virginal is given to a piano, which also takes over the harp part, while the parts for bells move to vibraphone and gongs.
DAS LIED VOM JUNGEN AKKORDEONSPIELER (2011)
This piece was originally conceived as a piece of the guitar, and was arranged for marimba duo by Wirtz himself. The title of this marimba duet translates to "The Song of the Young Accordion Player" and is meant to mimic the sound and style of the accordion.
RHYTHM STRIP (1997)
Rhythm Strip is an electrocardiogram, showing waves generated at each heartbeat of a person and the piece is based on some of the wave-patterns. Other semi-regular sounds from our environment are also taken into account and thus the pice can be said to convey an impression of the harmony of Man and his immediate surroundings. Másson writes both traditional and unconventional performance techniques for both players, presenting a diverse pallet of sounds by the instrumentation alone: Player I using a piccolo snare drum, and Player II using both an orchestral snare drum and military-style field drum.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Vlad would like to express his appreciation to his colleagues and professors who put in the time to prepare for tonight’s program. He also thanks his mother for always supporting his musical endeavors. Additionally, he wants to thank Dr. Ralph Sorrentino for his support and mentorship thus far in his graduate studies.