Northwest Percussion Festival

Southern Oregon University will host the 2025 Northwest Percussion Festival from Friday, April 4 – Sunday, April 6. Hosted by Dr. Terry Longshore, Professor of Music, Artist in Residence, and Director of Percussion Studies, the 3-day festival will celebrate its 40th anniversary, and feature world-renowned guest artists and nine university percussion ensembles from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

Guest artists include: Aiyun Huang, Geneva International Music Competition winner and Professor of Percussion at University of Toronto; Mark Applebaum, the “mad scientist of music” and Professor of Composition at Stanford University; and the dynamic Portland Percussion Group. All events are at the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University and are free admission. Parking will also be free in Lot 36.

The festival opens on Friday, April 4 at 7:30pm with a performance by the host ensemble, the Southern Oregon University Percussion Ensemble, directed by Terry Longshore. Highlighting the eclectic and diverse percussion studies program at SOU, the ensemble will perform a dynamic program entitled “Full Circle: Round Trip”,” featuring the following:

• Main Bersama-Sama (“Playing Together”) by Lou Harrison, for Sundanese gamelan degung, featuring euphonium soloist Dr. Alexander Gonzalez, SOU Director of Bands, and flute soloist Breckin Moore, SOU music student
• a series of accidents by Shaun Tilburg, for percussion quartet
• recover. by Aeryn Santillan for percussion trio
• Cepheid Variables by Michael Oesterle for percussion quartet with quarter-tone glockenspiel soloist, featuring Aiyun Huang
• 30: The First Decade & The Third Decade by Mark Applebaum, with Aiyun Huang, soloist
• The world premiere of Playing Dead by Bryan Jeffs, SOU Raider Band Director and Adjunct Instructor of Music
• The U.S. Premiere of Flambè Spring Breeze by Aiyun Huang, performed by Huang and Terry Longshore
• Two pieces performed by Maraval Road Steel Band: Rant and Rave by Christopher “Tambu” Herbert, arr. Shelly Irvine and Pan Can Jam! By Tracy Thornton, arr. Steve Popernack
• Brazilian Carnaval samba music that members of the ensemble learned at the 2025 Mardi Gras Brazil Carnaval Conference in New Orleans

The Festival Schedule is as follows. MRH = Music Recital Hall in Music Building. MST = Main Stage Theater in Theatre Arts Building. Both are located at 450 S Mountain Ave. in Ashland.

Friday, April 4:

7:30pm – SOU Percussion Ensembles – MRH

Saturday, April 5:

9:00am – Eastern Washington University – MRH

10:00 – Boise State University – MST

11:00 – University of Oregon – MRH

12:00pm – University of Washington – MST

1:00 – Lunch Break

2:30 – Guest Artist Concert – Portland Percussion Group featuring soloists mackxswell & Terry Longshore – MRH

3:30 – Guest Artist Presentation: Mark Applebaum – MST

4:30 – Guest Artist Master Class – Aiyun Huang – MRH

6:00  – Dinner Break

8:00 – Directors Recital – MRH

Sunday, April 6:

9:00am – Oregon State University – MST

10:00 – Portland State University – MRH

11:00 – Western Oregon University – MST

12:00 – Central Washington University – MRH

1:00 – Festival End