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Music festival continues Wednesday with Percussion Group DePauw
The Greencastle Summer Music Festival continues its 18th season of Wednesday 7:30 p.m. concerts this week in the air-conditioned comfort of Gobin Church with Percussion Group DePauw.
A project established by Ming-Hui Kuo and Ben Hogan, the group consists of DePauw faculty, staff and alumni.
“Our colorful variety of instrumentation will take you on a wide-ranging musical journey that includes classic and powerful drumming, the rich sounds of marimba, bright and colorful vibraphone, and the intricate ethnic rhythms of hand percussion instruments,” co-founder Kuo explained.
Wednesday’s concert will feature music by Emmanuel Séjourne, James Campbell, Casey Cangelosi, Christopher Deane and more – including a piece composed by ensemble member Hogan.
There’s no admission charge for the GSMF concerts, which are funded through free-will offerings, donations from individuals and businesses, a grant from the Putnam County Convention and Visitors Bureau, an endowment at the Putnam County Community Foundation, and the Inn at DePauw, host for the festival’s out-of-town performers.
Dr. Ming-Hui Kuo is an adjunct assistant professor and percussion ensemble director at DePauw University. She is a former intern performing member of Ju Percussion Group from 1993 to 2002.
During her time with JPG, she performed in more than 500 concerts and 100 music-related activities including the annual seasonal concerts at Taiwan National Concert Hall, Taipei International Percussion Convention in 2002 and 2005. Her international performance with JPG includes China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong-Kong, Macao, Spain, Hungary, Australia, Canada and the United States.
Kuo received a Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance at the University of Kentucky and proudly endorses YAMAHA, Innovative Percussion, Remo Inc. and Zildjian Cymbals.
Abigail Foehrkolb grew up in St. Louis, where she began studying percussion at age 12. She has studied with Dr. Martin Weir, Erin Elstner and Dr. Ming-Hui Kuo at DePauw University. This fall, Foehrkolb will be continuing her education at the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory where she will pursue her Master of Music degree and teach classes as the Percussion Teaching Assistant.
At DePauw, Foehrkolb was a member of the DePauw University Band, Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble. She also co-founded and served as president of DePauw’s Contemporary Ensemble, and she was a winner of the 2019 DePauw Concerto Competition. Foehrkolb has also participated in PASIC’s All-Star Intercollegiate Percussion Ensemble, Yarn/Wire’s Summer Institute, IMEA’s Intercollegiate Honor Band, Percussion Group DePauw, the DePauw Chamber Symphony’s Japan Tour, and has played in masterclasses with She-e Wu, Tim Palmer, Tom Sherwood, Ross Karre and Marc Damoulakis among others.
Foehrkolb was also the 2021 recipient of the Van Denman Thompson award as well as an inductee of the Pi Kappa Lambda national music honor society.
Ben Hogan is an in-demand drummer and percussionist in western Indiana with an interest in jazz, pop music, Brazilian music and incorporating electronics into live performance. While completing his master’s degree in music performance at the University of Louisville, he had the opportunity to spend six months in Brazil on a grant to study Brazilian music.
The GSMF will continue next week on June 22 with the North Dakota-based Duo Cantabile, cellist Simona Barbu and her husband pianist Nariaki Sugiura. The Vivaldi Project, a string trio focusing on classical-era works, including former Greencastle resident Allison Edberg Nyquist, will be the featured artists on Wednesday, June 29. The full summer schedule is available at greencastlemusic.org.