Ron Coulter, percussionist, composer, improviser, and researcher, will perform at Southern Utah University’s Thorley Recital Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m. “Xtensions” is a solo percussion and electronics concert consisting of pieces composed by Coulter. The concert is free and open to the public.
Coulter has composed more than 290 pieces for various media encompassing numerous genres. His compositions have been performed throughout North America, South America, and Europe. As a music researcher, Coulter’s work focuses on percussion music from the 1930s and ‘40s.
“My work focuses on sound, experimentation, abstraction, maximal use of minimal materials, and highly idiosyncratic forms of expression realized via new compositions, free improvisations, and personal collaborations,” Coulter said. “I am primarily a percussionist, however my artistic practice explores a broad sonic landscape, from extended techniques on conventional instruments to found objects, environmental sound to electronics, performance art to intermedia, and beyond. My practice as a performer, composer, and improviser is inclusive and is enriched from my ongoing involvement in a wide range of musicking, including jazz, popular, orchestral, various world musics, solo and chamber percussion music, free improvisation, electronic music, recording, and curation.”
He also uses his physical location when composing his works.
“Geographic, physical, and situational realities are primary for my work,” Coulter said. “In this way, my work is not superficially collaborative with the people, materials, and opportunities that I have access to, but rather it is truly responsive to, and reflexive with, all of these variables. Thus, my art practice embodies the respect of the individual (person, object, location) and the interrelationships of individuals-in-collaboration within whatever context I find myself.”
The Southern Utah University College of Performing and Visual Arts is comprised of nationally accredited departments of art and design, music, and dance. The college also offers programs in theater arts, graduate programs in arts administration and music, as well as the Center for Shakespeare Studies. The college offers 16 different degree areas, including liberal arts Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees; professional Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Fine Arts in art and theater degrees; and Master of Fine Arts in Arts Administration, Master of Arts in Arts Administration, Master of Music Education and Master of Music in Music Technology graduate degrees. More than 60 full- and part-time faculty and staff are engaged in teaching and mentoring nearly 600 majors in the college. Over 1,100 students enroll each year in over 195 arts classes on the SUU campus. The college presents over 100 performances, lectures, presentations, and exhibitions each year. The college’s affiliate organizations include the Southern Utah Museum of Art, the Utah Shakespeare Festival and SUU’s Ballroom Dance Company. More information about the College of Performing and Visual Arts is available at suu.edu/pva.
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