What started with the chatter of nonsense syllables and virtuosic pitter-pattering on an exotic hand drum ended with an upside-down snare drum and the otherworldly sounds of a recorded phone call.
Wednesday's preview in the Classical 101 studios of Cameron Leach's solo electroacoustic percussion concert ELISION wasn't just drumming. It was a sight to behold, a sound to take in and an event that only begins to describe what this Saturday's ELISION concert is all about.
Cameron Leach performs ELISION at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Columbus Performing Arts Center's Van Fleet Theatre. The concert is supported by the Johnstone Fund for New Music. Admission is free.
Check out this video of Leach's performance of George Aperghis' theatrical Le Corps à corps (Body to Body), then pick up your jaw and experience the eerie sounds of Dave Maric's A Greek Tragedy for two snare drums and audio from a recorded phone conversation about a fatal car crash. Leach wraps up the session with a selection from Evan Chapman's Buttonwood for solo upside-down snare drum and electronics.
These pieces feature only a few of the instruments Leach will be playing during ELISION. This Saturday evening, the whole percussion menagerie — marimbas, vibraphones, bongos, cymbals, gongs — will have Leach hopping from one instrument to another in vivacious displays of what he describes as "percussive athleticism."
A Columbus native and Capital University alum, Leach is currently a graduate student at the prestigious Eastman School of Music. He returns to Columbus to perform ELISION at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday, Feb. 3 in the Van Fleet Theatre at the Columbus Performing Arts Center.
