Percussion: Americans Got Rhythm

A percussion-focused concert explores rhythm, pulse and American musical innovation through works spanning the 20th and 21st centuries at the New World Center on Miami Beach.

Percussion: Americans Got Rhythm takes place Sunday, March 29 and features the percussion fellows of the New World Symphony. Conducted by Michael Linville, the program highlights the expressive range of percussion through a mix of early modern, contemporary and jazz-influenced compositions, with guest artist Charles Settle, a New World Symphony alum and principal percussionist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

The repertoire includes Henry Cowell’s Pulse, Julia Perry’s Homunculus C.F., and Steve Reich’s Quartet for Two Vibraphones and Two Pianos, alongside Patterns and Form by Alejandro Viñao, a recent New World Symphony co-commission. The concert also features a suite of ragtime-inspired works that trace the rhythmic vitality of early American popular music.

Presented by the New World Symphony, the performance showcases the technical precision and versatility of its percussion fellows while examining how rhythm functions as both structure and expressive force across musical styles and eras.