Amadinda Percussion Group

Performing on a wide array of percussion instruments, including Polynesian log drums, Chinese gongs, tin cans, bicycle wheels, and frying pans, the Budapest-based Amadinda Percussion Group skillfully combine the masterpieces of percussion music, the work of contemporary Hungarian composers, and new compositions by bandmembers. Taking their name from an African-style instrument that they made themselves, the group continues to celebrate the joys of polyrhythmic music. Graduates of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, the members of the Amadinda Percussion Group rank among Hungary’s leading musicians. Artistic director Zoltan Racz, who teaches at the Liszt Academy, was a founding member and the principal tympanist for the Budapest Festival Orchestra, with whom he performed from 1992 until 1996. Zoltan Vaczi has established himself as an expert on the traditional music of Hungary. Aurel Hallo continues to teach at the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music in Budapest. In addition to their own active schedule as performance and recording artists, the Amadinda Percussion Group has collaborated with John Cage, Bruno Canino, Peter Eötvös, Rosemary Hardy, András Keller, Zoltan Kocsis, György Kurtág, Andras Schiff, and mezzo-soprano Katalin Kàrolyi. During the Amadinda Percussion Group’s debut tour of North America in 1998, bandmembers presented master classes at the Juilliard Conservatory of Music and Yale University. ~ Craig Harris