Robert van Sice to perform with current YPG members and alumni

Yale Percussion Group Director Robert van Sice recently said that Garth Neustadter's Seaborne "is the best piece anyone's written for me since [James Wood's] Spirit Festival with Lamentations.” Neustadter's piece, which will be premiered on Saturday, March 3, as part of a concert billed as Robert van Sice & Friends, was commissioned to be a sort of companion piece to Steve Reich's Sextet.

The March 3 program is built around Seaborne, which is fitting given that Neustadter '12MM is a YSM alum and the concert will feature current YPG members and a host of alumni. In addition to Seaborne, which includes a film component created by van Sice's son, Kjell van Sice, the program includes Thierry De Mey's Musique de tables, "Story" from John Cage's Living Room Music, and Reich's Sextet.

Current YPG member YoungKyoung Lee '18MM said the concert "represents the most important part of Bob's teaching, which is learning from your peers and having the community together." Percussionists are told when they arrive at YSM, "You will learn more from the other five students here than you will learn from me," van Sice said.

During the March 3 concert, several generations of YSM-trained percussionists will share the Morse Recital Hall stage, introducing the audience to some of the students who have passed through the School since van Sice joined the faculty in 1997. While he's looking forward to celebrating his time on the YSM faculty, van Sice is quick to recognize those who were here before him: Fred Hinger and Gordon Gottlieb. “These are really significant people who I have the privilege of succeeding," van Sice said.

The March 3 concert, van Sice said, is “going to look way more like a party than a concert.”