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This Friday, November 18th at 7:30pm at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church,  The Fresh Blood Project in conjunction with Winnipeg’s GroundSwelll will be presenting Fresh Blood Project 3.

The Fresh Blood Project is an initiative started by Winnipeg percussionist Cameron Denby that aims to feature new works for percussion performed by up and coming musicians. The Concert on  Friday will feature three world premiere performances of pieces for percussion ensemble as well as classical favorites adapted for percussion by Denby.

One of the main mandates of the fresh blood project is to foster up-and-coming composers and percussionists. “I think it is really important to foster new talent because we have all of these new people who are coming up that the only place… a lot of the time you get to perform is with people who have been around for a long time…there is sport of this set idea. When you bring in new group of people, you end up with new ideas and new approaches,” states Denby

The three new works on the program will be compositions written by Manitoba composers Rebeka Schroeder, and Kiara Nathaniel, and Boston  based composer Steph Davis. All of the compositions were written for percussion instruments that could be easily transported. As Denby explains, “We have these three new pieces that are all designed to fit inside a backpack. So you have to be able to take all of the instruments and put them in a bag and just take them wherever you’re going. Last year we did the concert, and we had these huge pieces with marimba and vibraphone quartet. They were awesome but you couldn’t take them anywhere because the instruments are so big. So I thought we would take a little bit more of an approach to accessibility this year.”

In addition to the three new works, there will also be some music from the ragtime tradition, and also music by Vivaldi, and Cuban composer Ernest Lecuona amongst other, all of this music being arranged by Denby himself.

This is going to be a truly excellent concert not to be missed! Tickets are $15.00 are available through Cameron Denby’s website. The concert takes place this Friday, November 18th at 7:30 at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church.