A resident student/graduate percussion quartet from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Music has won the 2013 ClefWorks special percussion competition.
Iron Giant Percussion was chosen by guest artist ensemble SO Percussion after submitting a recording of David Skidmore’s “Ritual Music.” As part of the win, Iron Giant will work with SO and perform with them Feb. 8-9, 2013, in Montgomery during the 2013 ClefWorks Festival. The group also won a cash prize. Iron Giant Percussion was formed when music students Sam Herman, Brett Huffman, Seth Noble and Justin Wallace collaborated in 2010.
SO Percussion is one of the biggest names in contemporary percussion ensembles today, says UAB Assistant Professor of Percussion Gene Fambrough, D.M.A. Iron Giant’s latest accomplishment is in addition to its commissioned Birmingham Art Music Alliance concert, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. April 20, in UAB’s Mary Culp Hulsey Recital Hall.
The ClefWorks percussion competition was made possible with grant funds from the Central Alabama Community Foundation. ClefWorks is a nonprofit chamber music organization that incorporates new and traditional music with other relevant art forms and a unique social twist. ClefWorks held its premiere season in Montgomery in summer 2007.