In the middle of 2021, Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw released a new album with Sō Percussion, her 2nd project with the New York ensemble that year ‘Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part’ came out on June 25 2021 via Nonesuch Records. Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part is Shaw’s first album to feature her own vocals. The record follows January’s Narrow Sea, which also featured soprano Dawn Upshaw and pianist Gilbert Kalish. The musicians returned to work with Narrow Sea producer Jonathan Low for Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part. (Low recently won the 2021 Grammy Award for Album of the Year for his work on Taylor Swift’s folklore.) The new project also includes Shaw’s reinterpretation of ABBA’s “Lay All Your Love on Me,” arranged for marimba and voice. Friends of the proGram, Sō Percussion has blazed their own unique path in chamber music, redefining the genre for the 21st century with collaborations in classical music, pop, indie rock, and more. On Saturday evening, November 5th, we got a chance to drop into their awe-inspiring work alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning musician, Caroline Shaw, featuring songs from their aforementioned album ‘Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part’. Shaw also received a 2022 GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, for Narrow Sea, performed by Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gilbert Kalish. Caroline Shaw brings her unparalleled musical talents as a producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist center stage in this collaborative performance with Sō Percussion. The event was another offering from the Union Theater that opens the mind and senses to newness in rhythm, voice and the combination of arts. As I watched, I could not help but get taken into the very soil, whose job is never over – just like the celebration of the arts, which luckily, we have such a great space for here.
