UT Concert Hall brings you excellent performances that were given at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, spotlighting faculty, guest artist, and graduate student recitals, as well as student ensemble performances. Join local host and producer, Melony Dodson, for this hour-long program, as she transports you to Cox Auditorium and/or the Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall to hear these world class performances. Thursday night at 8pm and Sunday evenings at 7pm.
UT Concert Hall, February 26 and March 1, 2026
UT Percussion Festival
Saturday, March 08, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.
Sandra G. Powell Recital Hall
Natalie L. Haslam Music Center
Program
Hush (2011)
Glenn Kotche (b. 1970)
arr. James Campbell
place in no place (2022)
Anuj Bhutani (b. 1993)
Mountain (2020)
Clark Hubbard (b. 1995)
featuring Eric Willie
Rounders (2009)
Michael Burritt (b. 1962)
featuring Kevin Zetina
Scroll (2023)
Tom Rarick (b. 1974)
featuring Andy Bliss, Hector Gil, and Eric Willie
University of Tennessee Percussion Ensemble
Chris Rosas
Freddy Morales
Chang Gao
Annika Blackburn
Trik Gass
Burke Rivet
Anna Davis
Lydia Dodd
Brooke Duez
Elliott Baldwin
Ezekiel Wondwosen
Artist Biographies
Andy Bliss is a solo artist, conductor, curator, and educator who maintains a dynamic career of musical collaboration. Residing in Knoxville, TN, his performances have been heard locally at the Tennessee Theatre and the Square Room, and abroad in locations such as the Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music (Germany), the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), the Patagonia Percussion Festival (Argentina), the LiveWire Festival in Baltimore, and Stanford’s Cantor Center for Visual Arts.
His repertoire ranges from 20th-century masterworks by John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, and Steve Reich, to the performance and advocacy of contemporary composers such as John Luther Adams, David Lang, and Mark Applebaum. His passion for new music has propelled Andy to collaborate on new works with a wide range of today’s leading composers and musicians such as Christopher Adler, Christopher Burns, Evan Chapman, David Crowell, Nicholas Deyoe, Marc Mellits, Lewis Nielson, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir, among many others.
Last season, Andy returned to Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival, revisiting John Luther Adams’ Four Thousand Holes with the nief-norf Project and performing Become Ocean with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra; joined Atlanta’s Chamber Cartel for an evening-length performance of Iannis Xenakis’ Pleaides at the Goat Farm Arts Center; presented the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) International Convention’s New Literature Showcase Concert; appeared in solo recitals at the McCormick Marimba Festival in Tampa, FL and the statewide PAS Day of Percussion in Illinois; and collaborated in Lexington, KY with Dieter Hennings and an all-star cast on a performance of Pierre Boulez’s Le Marteau sans maître.
In the 2016-17 season, Andy will perform on double tenors in Brooklyn’s Panorama with the Crossfire Steel Orchestra; curates the PASIC Focus Day “Celebrating the European Avant-Garde,” a 6-concert event over two days; performs Jennifer Higdon’s percussion concerto under the composer’s baton; conducts the Eastern United States premiere of Mark Applebaum’s Rabbit Hole; directs a performance of Michael Pisaro’s Hearing Metal 3; and performs the world premiere of Constellations by Christopher Burns, an evening-length work for solo percussion and multimedia, written for Bliss.
Andy has made a practice of regularly working with younger composers, performers, and scholars, encouraging inquisitive modes of musical questioning and sustained collaboration with future generations. He is the Artistic Director of nief-norf, whose summer festival is now in its seventh year; there he performs, teaches, and conducts while curating a dozen concerts annually. The festival serves as a yearly contemporary music retreat, where more than fifty international participants enjoy an immersive environment of collaboration, experimentation, and support. Additionally, since 2011, Andy has served as the Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Tennessee, where he founded the Ensemble Knox (resident chamber percussion group), the UT Contemporary Music Ensemble, and the UT Contemporary Music Festival.
A devoted music educator, Andy has presented recitals, lectures, and master classes at the Northern Illinois University New Music Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy (NCPP), Association for Technology in Music Instruction’s (ATMI) National Conference, and the Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic, and has held residencies at the Universities of Alabama, Arizona, Kentucky, South Carolina, and many others.He currently serves the Percussive Arts Society as a member of the New Music Research committee and is Past President of the PAS Tennessee Chapter. Bliss has served on the adjudication jury for both the Music for All National Percussion Festival and the PAS International Percussion Ensemble Competition, and his method book Multitudes (Innovative Percussion) is a widely used pedagogical resource nationally. As a member of the Knoxville community, Bliss spends two weeks annually touring his Steelband and Brazilian Ensemble to Knox County public schools, fusing live performance with cultural and historical community engagement.
A native of Milan, IL, Andy’s percussion studies were mentored by James Campbell, Rich Holly, Robert Chappell, Orlando Cotto, Liam Teague, Cliff Alexis, and the Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps. He is proud to be a Yamaha Performing Artist and thanks Zildjian, Innovative Percussion, Evans, Black Swamp, and Meinl Percussion for their generous support and sponsorships. When not performing or with his students, Andy can be found consuming as much baseball as possible––either watching the Chicago Cubs on television, or playing a game of backyard catch with his wife Erin, and their son, Donovan.
Kevin Zetina is a passionate performer, composer, and arranger of all things contemporary whether it be performing seminal works of the last century, premiering or writing brand new works, or arranging popular music for contemporary classical ensembles. As a percussionist, he has performed with members of Eighth Blackbird, Ensemble Signal, the JACK Quartet, and the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Having grown up as a guitarist playing various sorts of death metal, Kevin has always been drawn to music that is experimental in nature. In this effort to push musical experimentation, Kevin started the first student-run new music ensemble at the Yale School of Music: Versicolor. The group champions composers who would otherwise be underrepresented and provides a space for contemporary music at Yale. Kevin has played frequently with the Austin based contemporary chamber music group, Density 512 and has served as the Production Director for the Nief-Norf Summer Festival.
Kevin currently serves as Lecturer of Percussion at the University of Tennessee Knoxville where he teaches applied lessons to percussion majors, Percussion Methods to Music Education majors, and directs the UT Chamber Percussion Ensemble. He champions a diverse array of contemporary music through his position by programming everything from Caroline Shaw to Animal Collective. His students have also gotten opportunities to premiere brand new works by fellow student composers as well as composers such as Marc Mellits and Emma O’Halloran. Being a composer himself, Kevin strives to blend his backgrounds in both contemporary classical and popular styles to create something that is both unique yet accessible to audiences from either background. Some recent projects include Coalescence (2021), a piece for mallet quartet & two pianos commissioned and premiered by the Yale Percussion Group, shepard tone (2020), a piece for Vibraphone & Piano premiered by Tactus at the Manhattan School of Music, and Sink (2019), a percussion quartet premiered by the UT Percussion Ensemble.
Previously he has taught percussion lessons for undergraduate students at Yale College and high school students at the Cheshire Academy, a private college preparatory boarding school in Connecticut. His students at Yale College, all of whom were non-music majors, have excelled comparably to conservatory students through winning spots at summer music festivals as well as the College Band Director’s National Association’s Intercollegiate Band. Kevin has also worked with high school students in Texas as a Marching Percussion Instructor and has guided many young percussionists as a private lesson teacher throughout the Round Rock/Leander area. While there, he coached the Walsh MS Honor Band as they were invited to perform at the Midwest Clinic.
Kevin holds a BM from the Eastman School of Music with the Howard Hanson Scholarship where he studied with Michael Burritt, and he earned his MM and MMA degrees from Yale University as a Havemeyer Scholarship recipient under Robert van Sice.
Hector Gil is a percussion education consultant and percussion curriculum designer for various secondary programs throughout the U.S. most recently, he served as Director of Percussion at Vista Ridge High School and Henry Middle School from 2008 to 2024, where his students achieved numerous national accolades that include being named The TMEA Invited Percussion Ensemble Winner (2023 - Vista Ridge), The TMEA Honor Band Winner (2024, 2018, 2014, 2010 - Henry MS), The Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition Winner (2018 - Vista Ridge), The Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition Winner (2014 - Henry MS), The Black Swamp Percussion Ensemble Showcase Winner (2017, 2022, 2024 - Vista Ridge), The Texas 6A UIL State Marching Band Champion (2018 - Vista Ridge), The Midwest International Clinic Performer (2014 - Vista Ridge Midwest International Clinic Performer (2022, 2016, 2012, 2010 - Henry MS), The Bands of America Grand National Championship Finalist (2021 - Vista Ridge), numerous finalist performances at UIL State and BOA Championships, and was a “Tournament of Roses” Parade Participant (2023 – Vista Ridge).
Hector attended Texas A&M University – Commerce where he received his Bachelor of Music Education degree in 2001. He marched the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps in 1997 and 1998 as a member of the snareline. He was also a member of the 2000 Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition winning collegiate ensemble with the Texas A&M University – Commerce Percussion Ensemble. He has been extremely fortunate to study from some incredible teachers that include Carlos Gil, Dr. Brian West, Bobby Francis, Bill Bachman, Dr. James Yakas, and Matt Savage.
Hector began his teaching career as the Director of Percussion at United High School in Laredo, TX (2002-2005), then moved to Fort Worth to be the Drumline Instructor for the Texas Christian University “Horned Frog” Marching Band (2005-2007), then as the Director of Percussion at Vista Ridge High School (2008-2024). In 2022, he served as the Percussion Caption Head for the Bluecoats 50th Anniversary Drum Corps.
In addition to his consulting duties, Hector is an avid percussion arranger and adjudicator for various high schools across the country. His professional affiliations include The Percussive Arts Society, Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Bandmasters Association, and he is a proud artist with Innovative Percussion and Sabian Cymbals.
Described as “unstoppable,” Eric Willie has a varied career as a percussion soloist, orchestral player, and teacher. His solo performances have occurred throughout the United States, Russia, Brasil, and Colombia, in addition to music festivals throughout the United States. A long-time educator, Eric has appeared at the Percussive Arts Society’s International Convention (PASIC), the Midwest Clinic, as well as several days of percussion and music educator conventions.
Currently a section percussionist with the Winston-Salem Symphony, Eric additionally performs as an extra performer with the New Hampshire Music Festival and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. Most recently as a Fulbright Scholar, Eric studied the Maracatu Nações in Recife, Pernambuco Brasil, and served as a Regency Professor at the Universidade Federal do Pernambuco for contemporary percussion studies.
Within the Percussive Arts Society (PAS), Eric was elected to the PAS Board of Advisors in 2021, and previously served as Chair of the PAS International Percussion Ensemble Committee. His percussion ensembles have been named winners of the 2015 and 2021 PAS International Percussion Ensemble Competitions. Currently, Eric serves as Professor of Percussion Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he was awarded the UNC Board of Governors Teaching Award in 2024.
He has published chapters and articles in GIA Publications, Percussive Notes, and the Instrumentalist; and his compositions appear in the catalogs of Musicon, Oxand Lamb, Row-Loff, and TapSpace. Eric is proud to serve as an artist endorser for Tama/Bergerault, Zildjian, Remo, Innovative Percussion, and Black Swamp.